Member of Parliament for Okaikoi South, Nana Akomea has urged the Electoral Commission to team up with the government to implement biometric voting by 2012. According to him, going biometric would improve the conduct of elections in the country. Nana Akomea was speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme Friday when he stated that the biometric system of voting has been proven to reduce electoral fraud and agitation from suspicion that usually characterized elections. The biometric voting system employs biometrics in order to avoid multiple voting and enhances the accuracy and speed of the voting process. It uses thumb impressions for voter identification. Electoral Commission Chairman, Dr Afari-Djan stated at the 5th Kronti ne Akwamu lecture last year that Ghana is not ready for biometric voting but in the meantime, the EC was considering biometric registration for the people. However, Nana Akomea thinks “we have come to the stage where we must take a giant step of going biometric.” He suggested that the EC can lead in a discussion on the issue to know how best it can be implemented two years ahead of the next general elections. The MP acknowledged that over the years, there had been some improvements in the electoral system – from wooden (opaque) ballot boxes to transparent boxes, IDs without pictures to those with pictures – insisting that “we can not be static” because Ghana has not got to the ‘perfect’ voting process yet. Deputy Chief of Staff, Alex Segbefia, a co-panelist on the show, indicated that going biometric was a step in the right direction. He noted that there was the need for vibrant public education to enable the majority of unlettered Ghanaians to understand the biometric voting system. Listen to Nana Akomea and Alex Segbefia in the attached audio Story by Dorcas Efe Mensah/myjoyonline.com