The Electoral Commission (EC) has assured Ghanaians that it is putting in place the needed structures to enable it to conduct its activities according to schedule.
The EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa told Citi News after a courtesy call on the management of Citi FM and Citi TV that the Commission is upbeat about a successful limited voter registration exercise despite the issues being raised by some stakeholders regarding certain changes to the process.
“Early planning is the key and we already mentioned that we have already rolled out our programme for 2020. We have the calendar of events and we are putting in structures to ensure that we can roll out efficiently and professionally and smoothly as well.We have the District level elections and referendum ahead of us. What we have done is to put both of them on the same day so we are not having separate events…With the necessary leadership and steering of affairs, we believe we will be able to live up to expectation.”
Meanwhile, the EC boss endorsed Citi FM and Citi TV’s War Against Indiscipline campaign.
Jean Mensah says she is hopeful the initiative will shape the attitudes of Ghanaians.
Mrs. Mensah also said the EC is taking steps to secure its own Information Technology Systems and Biometric Data Centre to manage election results and data.
Mrs. Mensah said the Commission had commenced recruitment processes to engage competent personnel in that field to manage the data centre.
She stated that the EC’s new administration met a proposal of 56 million dollars for the management of its IT infrastructure but upon feasibility studies and recommendations, they discontinued it.
“The EC invited a consultant from Canada who was engaged to design the IT infrastructure to conduct an audit and make recommendations. In the end, he said it was not finally wise to pursue that proposal,” she said.
“Our staffs were not in the know, it was only our vendors who had the details and operated the system. With these steps, it will create the credibility of our system.”