The Electoral Commission (EC) has described as fabrication and false claims regarding the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) Kits being used for the ongoing Voter Registration Exercise.
According to the Commission, some individuals have made it their avowed duty to mislead the public on its work and processes.
It said assertions that 40% of the BVR Kits being used are the old obsolete ones are false and an outright lie.
A statement issued by EC’s Acting Director of Public Affairs, Mrs Sylvia Annoh reiterated that all the Kits currently in use for the Registration Exercise are brand new.
“There is not a single old obsolete Kit in the field. One would have thought that the individuals making the assertion would have indicated in the report where they saw the old Kits being used.
“The EC is challenging the authors of the misleading reports, to name the centres where the old kits are being used for the benefit of the good people of Ghana,” the statement said.
The Commission pointed out that as part of its procurement of a new Biometric Voter Management System, 8,500 Biometric Voter Registration Kits were procured from Thales, all of which have been received and deployed into the field.
The new Kits currently in use, it said, are completely different from the old ones in terms of look, appearance and functionality.
“Comparatively, the features of the old and newly procured BVR Kits are different.
“The new BVR Kit is smaller than the old one, portable and easy to carry unlike the old one.
“The new BVR Kit has three red handles, one at the front and two at the sides whereas the old one has a single handle on the front, which is black in colour.
“The new BVR Kit has a Kit ID Number and QR Code in the front. The old kit does not have this feature.
“The new BVR Kit has a charging point in front of it with two LED alert lights but there is no such thing on the old kit.
“The new BVR Kit has a daily print out system that makes data collation easier”, the Commission stressed, adding that the difference becomes even more apparent once both kits are opened.
“In the old kit, registration officers typically would have to take the components of the kit out of the case to use but the new one is designed for the kits to be used in-situ.
“The new BVR Kit has the EC Logo on the cover of the notebook computer but the old BVR Kit does not”, EC explained.
The Voters Registration Exercise, which began on June 30, and will end on August 6, is in its third phase.
It is taking place in more than 33,000 registration centres under a cluster system arrangement where a registration takes six days at each centre.
More than 4.5 million applicants have been registered out of the targeted 15 million voters.
