Technology is the solution to illiteracy – Mr. Kofi Bentil

Mr. Kofi Bentil of IMANI Ghana has stated that the solution to illiteracy in Ghana is the introduction of technology into all spheres of the Ghanaian life.

He made this statement at a conference organised by the Danquah Institute on biometric voter registration and electronic voting in Ghana.

The first day of the two days conference was devoted to interrogating the advantages and challenges of introducing biometric voter registration and the second day devoted to e-voting in Ghana.

He said there has been a constant argument that the illiteracy rates in Ghana are high and the introduction of technology into certain areas of public life, like the introduction of technology into our voting system, will not be feasible.

He countered this assertion by citing the example of filling a form online; once an incorrect entry is made, that entry will not be accepted and will prompt you to make a correction.

With this background, he went on to advocate for the introduction of a National Biometric card for all purposes.

He added that an average person above 18 years requires about five different cards namely the biometric passport, national I.D card, driver's license, the national health insurance card and the voters I.D Card.

This he said signalled a looming confusion and can be solved by the introduction of one card which would be more secure and more accurate than all these together.

He said these systems/organizations are related and thus need the same information and hence must work together in data acquisition and management.

Mr Bentil said if this is not done, they will eventually cost more, achieve less and diminish the effectiveness of their own work.

He therefore proposed a national data centre where collation, processing, verification and updating will be possible. This centre will make it possible to process data and make it ready for various agencies like the EC, NHIA, SSNIT etc to access at any time.

He suggested that the Ghana Statistical Service be the mandated agency to collect all the information and share it, leading to a system which issues every citizen with a one machine-readable, multipurpose National Biometric Card.

The National Biometric Card can be used for purposes such as voting, where cards are swiped and fingerprints checked just like checking voter IDs.

The current problem of Ghana having a multiplicity of cards, he said, was caused by a system which employs various agencies seeking the same basic information from Ghanaians.

Even if Ghana decides not to implement a single National Biometric card now, it will eventually be done at a later stage which would mean wasted resources over the years.