Ghanaians to vote biometrically in 2016 elections

Ghanaians to vote biometrically in 2016 elections
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot

Accra, July 16, Ghanadot - Ghana’s enthusiastic efforts to consolidate democracy are growing day by day as the government has hinted that plans are at foot for Ghanaians to vote biometrically in the 2016 general elections.

To this end, the government together with other agencies will introduce a Biometric Voters’ Register soon to register all Ghanaians who are legitimate to cast their votes in the country.

The Minister of Communications, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu disclosed this at the opening of a two day inaugural General Meeting of the African eGovernance Academy in Accra, yesterday.

According to him, “As most of you may be aware in Ghana and in many African countries there are calls for the introduction of e-voting processes.

Additionally, discussions are going in many circles in Ghana and elsewhere on the continent for the introduction of biometric voters register”.

Mr. Iddrisu noted that, the biometric voting would reduce minor voting, violence and other negative tendencies which were concomitant to the past elections in the country.

He pledged that the government would provide all the necessary support to enable the biometric voting programme to take off.

The Minister charged the 18-member country African egovernance Academy for West Africa to governments in Africa to deepen democracy on the continent.

Studies conducted by World Bank in 2006 revealed that 85% of electronic government (egovernment) implementation in Africa had recorded various degrees of failures. This revelation is worrying.

Mr. Iddrisu therefore called for the intensification of collaborative research activities between governments and independent bodies to review some of the initiatives being planned on the continent as well as reviewing the existing prorammes and initiatives.

The Director of Democratic Governance Group at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Ms. Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi tasked the Academy to undertake capacity development to build unique competence in Information Communication Technology (ICT)-based research and development to promote the decentralization of the implementation of egovernment, especially at the grassroots.

She was hopefully that with the transfer of knowledge gained through research the work of policy makers would be shaped to respond swiftly to the needs of the citizenries and to increase government efficiency to enhance democratic processes on the continent.

The Program Manager In-charge of ICT/Media at the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), Mr. Ben Akoh, indicated that the objectives for the creation of Academy, is to set up a system that will facilitate networking and linkages of all the actors and actions in the area of egovernance in a manner that will help promote the successful outcomes of government modernization programmes on the continent.

Currently, the citizens require governments to deliver effective and efficient services offered on simple and user-friendly open access platforms.

The citizenries therefore want to fully participate in the policy and decision making processes that will eventually bring value to all. The Academy will offer is the opportunity to engage the citizenries to achieve their goals of inclusive policy making process.
The Academy is proposed to be located at the Kofi Annan ICT Centre of Excellence in Ghana.

Ghanadot