Security analyst, Adam Bona has raised concerns over what he says is the omission of names of security personnel from the special list of voters for the upcoming December 7, 2020 polls.
He says, the number excluded accounts for more than 60% of personnel.
Adam Bona says information available to him suggests that the affected officers are part of the security task force to be deployed on Election Day hence their exclusion from the special voting list has become problematic.
Adam Bona maintains some personnel he has personally spoken to have confirmed that their checks of the list show their names cannot be found in the special register; a situation he fully believes has security implications.
“I gathered information from most of these security agencies after interacting with them to understand the severity of the situation. It will surprise you that some institutions have 99% of some departments who are not finding their names in the special voting register. Essentially these people are getting disenfranchised so you ask yourself, what went wrong? This is going to be problematic because there seems to be tension among the personnel because it is not just the rank and file but senior officers cannot also find their names”, Adam Bona said on Eyewitness News.
The Electoral Commission (EC) he said, had directed the various security agencies to resubmit the list of via an online platform but alleges that the electoral management body is yet to rectify the anomaly.
But he quickly said there are however assurances by the EC that the situation will be addressed.
Meanwhile, the EC says the claims of omission of the names are questionable.
“I don’t know where he got his figures. In all, we have 109,552 persons on the special voters list made up of the media and the security agencies, so I don’t know where he is coming from with this”, Director of Electoral Services at the EC Dr. Serebour Quaicoe explained on Eyewitness News.