Four Companies on Shortlist for Ghana’s Biometric Verification System

The IT Consultant for Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC) says that four companies have been shortlisted for the contract to supply the EC with the Biometric Verification System for the country’s new voting platform.

Dr. Yaw Ofori-Adjei also said that the physical infrastructure is in place for a new data center to be established in eight weeks where the electoral data that is collected will be compiled for the 2020 general elections.

“The previous managers of the Biometric Verification System advised the EC that the system needed an upgrade and gave good, cogent reasons why the upgrade was needed,” Ofori-Adjei said. “With these new equipments, a facial recognition machine will be used extensively for several purposes; forensics, border control systems, and the elections. It’s a technology that has been used and verified.”

In response to criticism levelled by Civil Society Organisations (CSO) that the existing biometric systems shouldn’t need replacing, Ofori-Adjei commented that “It’s not about how often they are used but how they are used. They are not in good shape. When you inspect the devices being used by the EC, you’ll come to terms with the fact that they are in really bad shape and need to be changed.”

He added that the goal of the EC is to ensure a credible election and to avoid doubt and controversy when the results are announced.

Samuel Tettey, the Deputy Chairperson in charge of Operations for the EC, announced that the compilation of the new voter registry will begin on April 18, with hopes that it will completed by May 30.

Tettey said the EC intends to hold a voters register exhibition from August 15 to August 28 to display the new system.

Source: GhanaWeb

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January 24, 2020 – by Tony Bitzionis