President of policy think tank, IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has criticised the Electoral Commission (EC) for making the electoral roll public.
Franklin Cudjoe argued that the EC’s action could create room for manipulation of voters’ personal details.
“You compromise the data of a lot of people. It is not a sensible thing to do. Anybody having this data can easily manipulate it. It is amateurish,” he said.
Mr. Cudjoe’s concerns come in the wake of the EC’s defence for publishing the register.
The EC had explained that its decision was to ensure “transparency and openness.”
Mr. Cudjoe, however, argued that the EC’s decision breaches the law as it contravenes data protection policies.
The commission published the roll on its website via Google Drive prompting concerns over privacy and data security.
The list published contained the names, voter identification numbers, ages and genders of persons registered to vote.
The list of voters was eventually pulled down but only temporarily, according to the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa.
She said it will be re-published after the system has been embedded with enhanced security measures.
“[Our] IT [team] was called to include and introduce more systems to it to make it more functional. We intend to upload it in the next few days,” she noted.
