Ghana: EC Denies Election Watch Ghana's Allegation of Stolen BVR Kits

The Electoral Commission (EC) has debunked the allegation made by the Election Watch Ghana, that five of the Commission's Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) Kits have been stolen.

The EC said"the public should disregard these baseless and unfounded allegations, as they are without merit, as only five missing laptop had been reported to the security agencies and not BVR."

A press statement issued and signed by the Acting Director of Public Affairs, EC, Mr Micheal Boadu, also denied the accusation that the Commission was using stolen BVR Kits to register people secretly during the limited voter registration.

"The Commission never reported that Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) Kits have been stolen. The Commission notified the security agencies that five laptops were missing.

"The Commission subsequently informed all stakeholders about the missing laptops. Describing the missing laptops as BVRs is a deliberate attempt by certain groups to deceive the public, in order to sustain their unfounded allegations," the statement said.

The EC explained that, a BVR Kit comprises several essential components such as laptop, a fingerprint scanner, a digital camera and a printer among others, and that "these components must be activated all together for the kits to be used to register voters."

The statement said "we repeat, the five missing laptops on their own cannot be used to register voters. We urge that the General Public to disregard statements from the Election Watch Ghana, as they are baseless and without merit."

The EC reminded the public that the ongoing limited registration exercise allows agents of political parties to be present at all registration centres, adding that "accredited observer groups and media personnel also have access to all registration centres across the country."

The statement said, the EC has acknowledged errors made in specific infographics such as the infographics on the number of challenge cases, which the Commission promptly corrected same.

"The infographics correction did not relate to the actual number of registered voters per district and per region," the EC said.

"The information provided on the actual number of registered voters per district and per region was accurate. It is important to highlight that to date, no political party has disputed the registration figures published by the Electoral Commission. This is because their records tally with that of the Commission," the statement said.

AllAfrica publishes around 500 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.