As the 2024 December elections approach, it has become increasingly critical for the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) to allow an audit of the voter register.
Concerns have been raised about the accuracy of the register, with many questioning the EC’s conduct in ensuring its credibility.
Addressing these concerns through an independent audit would enhance transparency and public confidence in the electoral process.
According to IMANI Africa, unresolved issues from 2020 regarding procurement practices by the Electoral Commission (EC) remain a key concern, prompting IMANI to request an investigation by CHRAJ.
Bright Simons, Vice President of IMANI Africa, highlighted that in 2020, the organization accused the EC of inflating a contract to purchase biometric software and services from Neurotechnology, a Lithuanian company.
Simons noted that Neurotechnology’s product, MegaMatcher, is highly regarded and used in various countries globally.
However, IMANI questioned the EC’s transparency, pointing out that the commission claimed to have paid around $3.2 million for the software.
“IMANI commissioned a study that concluded that not more than $400k should have been spent. IMANI made plenty of noise & called for audits. Nobody paid heed. The EC just ignored it. As usual, the country moved on. In 2020, Neurotechnology not only provided the software, they also offered extensive consulting & flew personnel in to make sure that all the de-duplication & generation of lists from registered voters went on smoothly”.
“The EC bosses had brought in some local consultants who were driving the procurement decisions. They were the ones who designed the knowledge transfer from Neurotechnology to EC. Their job included making sure that the EC would be able to keep using the tech with in-house staff & systems. IMANI accused them of conflicts of interest & peddling plain lies in the course of its probe”.
Bright Simons, Vice President of IMANI Africa
Meanwhile, from May 7th to May 27th, 2024, the EC conducted the final mass registration before the 2024 elections took place.
According to Bright Simons, many overlooked the fact that, as highlighted in CODEO reports, this registration drive saw the highest rate of technological malfunctions in a decade.
EC’s Four-Month Delay on Voter List
Furthermore, Bright Simons noted that since May 27th, the Electoral Commission (EC) has had nearly four months to clean up the voter register and prepare critical lists such as the multiple registration, exception, and transfer lists.
Additionally, Simons emphasized that the EC has had ample time to use the MegaMatcher software to eliminate duplicate registrations—an issue distinct from “duplicate IDs,” which he described as an administrative matter.
This gap in addressing technical and logistical challenges raises concerns about the readiness of the voter register ahead of the upcoming elections.
“It was therefore shocking that the EC could only supply the parties with a provisional voters register only on August 19th. It is true that the EC conducted some mop-up activities in August but the main register should have been completed weeks prior. Even more shocking is that after the exhibition of the register from August 20th to 27th, many thousands of duplicate entries & multiple registrations NOT ALREADY on the ‘multiple registrations lists’ are still being found”.
“Remember that the point of the exhibition is not to catch new multiple registrations. Between the end of the registration exercise & the start of the exhibition (i.e. from May 27th to August 20th, almost 3 months), the EC is expected to use the MegaMatcher software to eliminate duplicates & place them on the Multiple Registration list for affected individuals to show cause why their details should not be removed from the register”.
Bright Simons, Vice President of IMANI Africa
Bright Simons further highlighted that the MegaMatcher software, if properly operated, should be capable of removing duplicate names from a register containing as many as a billion entries in just a few hours.
Given that Ghana’s voter register has fewer than 20 million names, he questioned why a globally effective system is performing so poorly in this case.
Simons suggested that IMANI believes the root cause lies in the EC’s lack of transparency during the procurement of consulting and support services, which have failed to properly set up the entire project from the start.
As a result, the system is underperforming.
He reiterated IMANI Africa’s call for a thorough review of the entire technology procurement cycle that is impacting the upcoming elections, urging for greater scrutiny and accountability.
READ ALSO: World Leaders Pledge Action in Historic Future Pact
