Ghana’s Electoral Commission had taken a decision to replace the current voter register with a Biometric Register for reasons that we all accept - the old process could not prevent multiple registrations and thus multiple voting. Biometric Voter Registration involves the use of computers, finger print readers/scanners and digital cameras and thus the involvement of thousands of electrical equipment across the country. The exercise involves the registering of all voters anew and the inclusion of newly eligible voters i.e. those who have now turned 18 years. Close to 7000 Registration Centres are involved in the exercise which began on Saturday 24th March. This is a challenge not just for the EC but for the whole country and thus we should all seek to register, we should all work together and cooperate, we should all be double vigilant. As a party we are not fully represented at 7000 Registration Centres. We are fully represented however in many and partially represented in others. This is the reality of opposition parties in Africa. A system where governments use incumbency fully to their advantage and a system that ensures that incumbency also attracts all the necessary funding. Ghana and African Governments should do all that is necessary to entrench democracy and that includes ensuring participation by all including opposition parties and groups in such major exercises. Civil society groups can also help by aiding the monitoring process on behalf of all parties. On Day 3 of the process, the problems and the processes are largely anticipated problems and challenges: • Equipment Failure • Time to Register • Registration Challenges It is largely anticipated that machines being machines could have failures and we are satisfied that there is a process in place by the EC to repair or replace faulty equipment. Our own observations on the ground at various centres testify to the fact that some fingerprints are more difficult to read than others and thus taking longer but despite that and other reasons for delay, the EC had targeted to register 100 people per day per station, but actually need to register about 50 per day per station. We believe the average over the three days is about 70 persons per day per station, so there is no need to worry about the adequacy of the 40 days as yet. If at the end of the 40 day process a sizeable number of an anticipated 12 million eligible voters have not been registered then we shall push to ensure the process is extended to ensure no one is disenfranchised. On registration challenges we must all be double vigilant and do our best to ensure that minors and non Ghanaians are not registered. We should note breaches and complete the forms for the adjudication panels. The challenged names should then be noted. As a party that gave birth to the nation we believe that in all things the country comes first. We believe that as a country we can overcome all challenges that arise on the registration exercise, it is thus important we all work for the success of the Biometric Registration Exercise. Nii Armah Akomfrah Director of Communication