The December 7,2024 polls are just a stone throw away from happening where millions of Ghanaians will be queuing to vote for the next set of leaders for the next 4 years as our democratic dictates in our constitution and as such, there are genuine fears that the onset of Artificial Intelligence devices and how it may be used to misinform and disinform the general public before ,during and after the polls close on the 7th pending the outcome of the certified results being declared by the Electoral Commission.
These genuine concerns amongst all key stakeholders in the country has pushed political actors , civil society actors , policy makers and development partners in the build up to the polls led to the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) , the European Union as well as local partners held the Ghana Speaks Forum on the theme ” Moderating the airwaves for peaceful and credible Elections 2024″.
Speaking as one of the keynote Speakers at the Forum, the Executive Secretary of the National Media Commission , Lawyer George Sarpong intimated that for an election as crucial as the 2024 polls , it is important for state agencies clothed with the regulatory powers to streamline the airwaves must be ahead of the game in order to create disincentives for media houses and individuals who might resort to creating fear and panic in the populace by broadcasting news items that may be inimical to the peace and safety of the whole nation.
” In a fast changing world where most of the traditional means of communicating to citizens are facing challenges by new media and social media , we need as regulators of the media space such as the content regulators (National Media Commission ) on one hand and the technical regulators ( National Communications Authority) on the other hand, must smell the coffee and put in place safety valves that disconnect the oxygen to likely items of misinformation and disinformation on electoral matters which can have dire consequences on the security of the state.
We at the National Media Commission working in consultation with relevant state agencies and our donor partners have taken a step forward to create an application where citizens and members of the general public can input packs of information and the algorithms inherent will process such information and relay it to the strong room of the NMC for swift actions and appropriate regulatory responses.
The process will be decentralized to locations across the country and into small organized groups like churches , mosques , schools ,communities so that such likely fake news can be picked up and dealt with in real time ,the app codenamed “Media Watch” will also link up security agencies to fish out rumour mongers and platforms which promote same for swift prosecution”.
Speaking on behalf of the Cyber Security Authority Director General , Senior Manager , Technical Services , Joseph Attoh Antwi warned Ghanaians about the dangers of misinformation and disinformation particularly targeted at the website of the Electoral Commission and fake social media accounts cloning the top officials like Madam Jean Mensa on Election day in an instance of declaring results on the day.
He added that AI in itself could be also used to deliberately create doubts in the minds of the public especially on social media , where there is no water tight regulation as exists in the traditional media space , which must be treated with all urgency by all stakeholders in the Elections.
” Although we cannot entirely downplay the benefits in today’s ever digitizing world , in terms of facilitating information dissemination and processing across several channels to reach a larger audience in a short time span , we are also cautious that same model can be used to create disaffection and trust for the peaceful conduct of the elections , by cloning the website of the EC to give parallel results to what ruly pertains from the polling stations on the D-day.
Other unscrupulous elements can also devise means of using AI to create video transcripts of key personalities like the EC Boss, Jean Mensa declaring supposed results which might create tension amongst the populace depending on how easily such content is shared in the media space.
The Cyber Security Authority also cautions high ranking members of society like Ministers, MPs and civil servants to be very private with their platforms on social media and make sure that any information for public consumptions is double verified before publishing on such channels for public consumption.
He intimated that his outfit will be on the lookout for any negative accounts on the internet seeking to misuse same platforms to create fear and panic during the elections will be fished out and handing over accordingly to the security agencies for prosecution to serve as deterrent to the whole nation”.
The Deputy EC boss , Dr Eric Bossman Asare speaking in a different event acceded to the dangers of AI in affecting the credibility of the elections once left unchecked , and as such the EC has invested in a more robust and solid IT infrastructure which keeps the database of the commission appreciably protected from miscreants.
He further revealed that most of the core functions of elections transmission , ballot collation and tallying on the polling day were done with almost minimal electronic means as a way of protecting the interests and validity of votes cast .
” AI like all other phenomenon has both its bad and good sides , and we understand that for the purposes of safeguarding our sensitive databases and electoral management systems , we at the EC have invested huge resources into our IT and software mechanisms overall.
Over 99% of what we do on Elections day proper is manual from ballot tallying , collation and arithmetic tabulations of results are done in person in collaboration with our stakeholders with little interference electronically , as a key step of leaving no room for manipulation of data as well.
The legislative instrument we operate by CI127 stipulates all the above mentioned in ink and we follow through religiously with these directives to engender trust and confidence in our activities which we do for the genuine and overall interest of Ghana and not a select few”.
The Forum counts among a series of events being organized by IDEG and its partners to inform and educate citizens on a myriad of issues that need to be uncovered before the country goes to the polls on Dec 7.
