The reckless stubbornness of Jean Mensah and her accomplice deputies at Ghana’s Electoral Commission is reaching a crescendo of shame. In their unwarranted bid to show everyone they are competent while they are actually not, the EC has goofed disgracefully once again in obeying the so-called law that they claimed enjoined them to publish our voters register before the main elections.
Having come under fire for releasing the voters register on its website and on cloud for public access without any restrictions, the Electoral Commission quickly removed the document after it has been widely downloaded and circulated. Questions were raised about data security and abuse of personal data of voters in this age of cyber fraud. Many others have also questioned the motive of releasing the data of voters en masse when a more competent manner should have been restricted access whereby nobody can access the others’ information and use it for any other purpose unknown to the fellow.
These serious concerns were the reasons for the urgent removal of the document from the EC’s website as admitted by Jean Mensah at her hurriedly organized press conference yesterday. Madam Jean Mensah claimed the EC is remedying some security lapses and will put the register back on its website. She made the claim unapologetically as if admitting her failure to ensure security of the register before publishing online is just a mere joke.
This attitude of Jean Mensah in brushing aside the dangerous mistakes she continues to make and putting the country’s peace in turmoil cannot be overlooked any further. The deliberate release of the full voter information is going to create trouble on voting day. Criminals especially those bent on marring the polls will generate duplicate ID cards with other people’s registration numbers and try to vote in their stead. Unsuspecting innocent voters will appear at polling stations only to be turned away. This is a grand agenda to disenfranchise genuine people who risked their lives to queue amidst threat of covid-19 to register to vote for their preferred candidates.
Allegations were also being made of discoveries of names being reinstated in the register which the EC claimed were embargoed for registration infractions. How the EC came to reinstate those names remains a question yet to be answered. Other people who had no problems and are not aware of such have complained of their names missing from the published register.
Serious questions, therefore, needed to be asked whether with all these problems the EC really is ready for the December polls as it claims.
Ghanaians now await what is going to appear on the EC’s website as final register for 7th December. Should a different information appear in the next publication, the stage will be set for another bout of confrontation between the public and the EC for another week before elections. And it is a fact that this particular EC has turned out to be a belligerent organization that refuses to reason with stakeholders and trying to please itself.
Ghana’s peace will be demanded of Jean Mensah in December, 2020. Her stubbornness has entangled her in a spider web where she is not strong enough to disentangle herself.
By: George Amoah
