Vendors have hijacked our database – EC Boss laments

By brightwebtv/bright Agyapong

The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana, Jean Mensa, has revealed that vendors who have been doing business with the electoral management body have hijacked its database and controlling it.

According to her, the situation in Ghana is not different from other countries in the African continent, warning that if the situation is not addressed, it will undermine the independence electoral management bodies, especially those in developing countries.

“A major challenge we have observed is that vendors taking over and owning the biometric databases of electoral management bodies. This is a worrying trend in developing countries that are striving to become more independent”, she noted.

She has therefore made a passionate appeal to its major stakeholders to assist in curbing the menace.

The EC Boss made this startling revelation, Monday, January 28, 2019, when addressing the 17th International Electoral Affairs Symposium in Accra.

The event which was co-sponsored by the Electoral Commission of Ghana and the International Center for Parliamentary Studies brought together 30 Election Management Bodies (EMBs) to interact and learn from each other about best practices and emerging issues.

Commenting further, she said it is only the capacity of staff of the various electoral management bodies, especially, those in developing countries, are built in the area of ICT that will ensure that their day-to-day administrative processes and the maintenance of management of their data bases are not hijacked and controlled by vendors.
“Institutional capacity building”, she noted is key in addressing this menace.

Mynewsghana.com