The Afari-Gyan Factor

Dr. Afari-Gyan has developed a disturbing penchant for making confusing statements about the twin novelties of biometric registration and verification, in a manner which is both amazing and amusing. The new trait in him has compelled many political observers to read various meanings into the man�s thinking. It was not the case with him in the years gone by and we wonder what could have descended upon the bespectacled old man that he can make wild and inconsistent remarks without looking over his shoulders. The days when his name evoked impressions of a man full of wisdom, unwavering in his conviction and advancing unambiguous premises to support his conclusions, are gone. The night appears to have dawned over his glorious days, the rest being nothing but symptoms of diminishing returns as the economists would say. How time flies and even plays myriad tricks on a man�s ability to think straight. Ever since the biometric registration was put on the table, not his initiative anyway, Dr. Afari-Gyan has been most inconsistent and unconvincing in his presentations on the subject. More worrying is the consistency of his position with that of the ruling NDC General Secretary�s, �we disagree with the verification� infamy. When he turned up at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) for a discourse on the subject after making unhelpful remarks about the verification demands, Dr. Afari-Gyan left his anxious audience even more confused than before when they graced the think-tank�s invitation. He appears to be banking his hope more on vigilance and policing at polling stations than the advantages of the biometric registration and its attendant verification adjunct. If the gentleman is convinced that the biometric system, alongside the verification, is no panacea to election irregularities as represented by multiple registration and voting, he could have opposed it. He rather sat down indifferently as the huge amount of money was approved for it. Whatever his position on the novelty, it is the most modern response to multiple registration and other electoral frauds worldwide. Its ability to reduce the incidence of the aforementioned electoral anomalies is unequalled, making the attempts of Dr. Afari-Gyan untenable. If vigilance and policing did not solve this challenge in previous polls, especially in the 2008, how can Ghanaians expect them to make a dramatic turnaround this time around? Dr. Afari-Gyan�s stance that there is no antidote to the incidence of ballot-box snatching and other irregularities in a 2011 setting boggles our minds, more so that it is coming from such a personality. The deduction from Dr. Afari-Gyan�s position is that such anomalies must be expected in the next polls and subsequent ones. It also suggests that the anomalies will go on regardless of the presence of security agencies, an indicting remark about the institutions the personnel represent, from a man like Dr. Afari-Gyan. We are aware that election officials at such points, according to Dr. Afari-Gyan, do not have the power to turn away those who turn up to vote, regardless of their eligibility. Such objections can only be raised at the end of the exercise, by which time the tainted victor would have been declared winner. What a way to make the work of the EC easy, leaving the cheated contestants to suffer several days of inconvenience at the courts where such cases can drag on till the next elections.