- Public Relations Officer of the Electoral Commission of the University of Ghana Students Representative Council Bright Siaw has indicated that aggrieved candidates who petition the commission for an audit of the 2022 UGSRC elections have been asked to come with their IT personnel to probe their allegations.
Some candidates in the just-ended University of Ghana Student Representative Council elections petitioned the electoral commission for an audit of the 2022 elections.
The aggrieved candidates alleged that some students’ emails were illegally accessed and used to vote without their notice. This the angry candidates believe can have the potential to impact the results of the polls. Reacting to this, the electoral commission and the University of Ghana Computing System met with the petitioner on Monday, November 14, 2022, to bring finality to the matter.
Speaking to Univernews after the meeting, Bright Siaw stated that the petitioners have been tasked to come with their IT personnel on Tuesday, November 15th 2022 at 9 am to audit the back end of the voting system.
This he said would be done under the supervision of the commission and the University of Ghana Computing System.
“The petitioners would bring whoever they think can do the best job for them under the supervision of the electoral commissioners and the team at UGCs, they would be allowed to investigate the back end of the voting system so it will come from the petitioners.
You know, UGCs have nothing to hide either, nor the Commission. So to avoid the back and forth, to allow democracy to prevail, and to ensure that the aggrieved candidates get a fair hearing, which would bring about transparency and fairness, UGCs agreed to allow the petitioners to bring their experts or whoever they would bring tomorrow 9:00 am to investigate the spreadsheet to substantiate their claim so that was the outcome of the meeting today.” He stated.
He again added that the decision has been welcomed by all the parties involved.
“The candidates welcome the decision, I believe they had prepared to embark on this journey and as such, they assumed that such an outcome will prevail. So they welcomed the decision and did not complain about the timeline so tomorrow they’ll bring the experts I believe. That’s the information I picked from the candidates after the meeting but they welcomed the timeline.” He said.
Bright Siaw, however, stated that the outcome of the investigation might affect the declared election results
“For now, I wouldn’t speak as to whether we will cancel the entire elections. There are provisions in the CI and also if there’s any decision to be made I believe the Electoral Commission will make that decision, I can’t anticipate the outcome. If we establish with strong evidence that indeed the irregularities are unconstitutional and very illegal then I believe the Electoral Commission will make a proper determination. That’s why in our release we indicated that the outcome of the investigation may affect the final declaration we made last Friday.” He added
Some Candidates in the just-ended 2022 UGSRC elections have petitioned the Electoral Commission for an audit of the 2022 UGSRC election results.
The candidates which are Samuel Ackom, Ramzy Ahmad Fuseini, Curtis Owusu Akomeh, Linda Ackah-Mensah, Vida Mintah, Diana Ohene Bemah, Ernestina Mahama and Edward Owusu Boateng argued that some students complained about their student’s emails being illegally accessed and being used to vote without their notice. This the candidates believe has the potential to impact the results of the polls and thereby should be investigated by the commission.
