By Edward Acquah
Accra, Sept. 2, GNA – The Electoral Commission (EC) says it is taking steps to reverse the illegal voter transfers in the Pisuga Constituency in the Upper East Region.
The Commission said preliminary investigations established that 38 voters were transferred to the Pusiga Constituency from the Tamale South and Sagnerigu constituencies in the Northern Region without their consent.
Addressing a press conference in Accra on Monday, Dr Bossman Eric Asare, Deputy EC Chair, in-charge of Corporate Services, said the Commission had suspended its Pusiga District Electoral Officer and had invited him to respond to the Commission’s preliminary findings.
He said the EC had instituted investigations to ascertain if similar incidents occurred elsewhere beyond the reported case in the Tamale South and Sagnerigu constituencies.
Dr Asare said the illegal transfers were effected using the credentials of an Electoral Commission Official, adding that records of those transfers were captured in the Voter Management System’s (VMS) audit logs.
“A look at the verification done during the transfer process shows that photos of the voters from their Voter ID Cards were used for facial verification and to effect the transfers,” he said.
Explaining the incident, Dr Asare said the voters affected in the Tamale South and Sagnerigu constituencies indicated that their Voter ID Cards were collected by one Haruna Muniru ostensibly for the processing of a loan.
He said Haruna Muniru was arrested by the Police last week and is currently on bail.
“Following this incident, the Commission has introduced a ‘liveliness check’ in the verification process, which is a feature designed to ensure that the biometric data being captured is from a live, present human being and not from a spoofed source, such as a photograph, which is what was done in this case. The ‘liveliness check’ has since been built into the system to prevent any such future occurrence,” he said.
Per Regulation 22, Sub-Regulation 1 of Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) 127, the Registered Voter must be physically present to request for the transfer of vote to another Polling Station.
The Commission said the transfer of vote could only be done at the District Offices and required the presence of the Voter who must be verified using either his/her face or fingerprints.
The Commission assured that after the Exhibition Exercise, the Final Voters Register that would be produced would be robust and credible.
“We call upon the public to reject statements that the Register is not fit for the 2024 Elections or that it is incurably defective. The Register is robust and credible. At the end of the day, the Final Certified Register will reflect corrections of all identified errors,” Dr Asare said.
GNA