The Deputy National Organizer of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mahdi Gibrill has rubbished calls from civil society groups and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) on the Electoral Commission (EC) to replace the 2012 biometric voter register.
In an interview with DAILY HERITAGE, Mr Gibrill said arguments by a section of the people that the 2012 biometric voter register was bloated compared to the 2010 population census has no justification.
He revealed that under no circumstance should anyone compare the biometric register to the 2010 population census because after two years, there is population increase.
“For now, some of us believe that the 2012 biometric voter register is one of the best and credible processes of electioneering that has ever happened to this country,” he said.
The deputy organizer, also known in party circles as the Pink Sheet Man rejected arguments that late former President John Atta Mills and current President, John Dramani Mahama called for the replacement of the 2008 voter register which he said was said long before 2012 and indeed it was proven to be true after the 2012 register that the 2008 one was bloated.
On the issue of minors and the dead been captured in the register, he hinted that the dead cannot come to vote but with regards to minors, that was why agents of various political parties are present during the registration.
According to him, the EC is mandated by the laws of the country to clean the voter register through an exhibition process where auditing is done to challenge, add and delete everything found contrary to the provision of the commission.
“So if people are calling for the replacement of the biometric voter register, then it will be a misplaced priority on the part of the commission to bow to such calls and pressures from civil society groups and the opposition.
“This is one of the reasons why I have problems with the civil society, anytime we are doing serious election reforms they don't involve themselves, but resurface later and give flimsy excuses,” he opined.
He criticized civil society for having failed in its role of educating the general public about the need to clean the voter register and take voter exhibition exercise seriously.
The Pink Sheet Man revealed that the NDC believes in the 2012 biometric voter register despite the Supreme Court ruling banning the usage of the National Health Insurance Scheme card as one of the requirements for registration, adding that the ruling cannot be a justification for replacement.
He stated that the 2012 register is the only system that can detect double registration and voting and therefore should be maintained.
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