Mrs Jean Mensa, EC boss
Mrs Jean Mensa, EC boss

Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mrs Jean Mensa, has justified the decision to publish full details of persons captured in the electoral roll.

She argued that the Commission breached no law because it is mandated by law to publicly put out the details of registered voters.

She made these comments as part of her opening remarks at a media training for journalists on electoral reporting in Accra.

This comes on the back of the backlash that greeted a widely shared Google Drive link containing a list of Ghanaians eligible to exercise their franchise in the December polls.

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The details included voters’ names, ages and polling centres as well as identity numbers.

A section of the public also raised concerns about data protection that may potentially arise.

But Mrs Mensa fought off the claims adding that “C.I. 127 requires that the provisional voters’ register is published on our website.”

“That same law states that the final register is published in a manner that the Commission deems fit,” she said on Tuesday.

According to her, the development will also ensure transparency in the electoral process.

She also revealed that the list has been temporarily pulled down to allow for an upgrade with more enhanced functionalities before subsequently reloading it “in the coming days.”

Meanwhile, Vice President of IMANI Africa has refuted claims that the EC had the automatic right to make public details of the electorate.

Kofi Bentil said the laws that allow the Commission to publish the voters’ roll (in the manner determined by the Commission) also require the EC to exercise “a careful discretion” in putting out such details.

“It is not true that the EC has the automatic right to do this. There is no express authorisation for them to do this.

“The law is clear that they should decide how they are going to put out the data but that decision is also subject to other laws,” he said.