The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), says it has ample human resources and the technical capacity to deploy a robust IT system that will enhance their chances of winning the 2024 general elections.
The party’s newly-appointed Director of Elections in charge of IT, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, says the the party is winning the elections, and has deployed a robust IT system to secure its gains.
According to him, the IT system has already been tested during the party’s presidential primary and the Assin North by-election.
The former Communications Minister, who was speaking on Ekosiisen on Asempa FM on Thursday, September 14, downplayed suggestions by the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), that it has a superior strategy that the NDC cannot counter at the polls in 2024.
When the Host of the show, Osei Bonsu [Alias OB], asked if the NDC for instance could match the NPP’s Joe Anokye who’s in charge of the National Communications Authority (NCA) in terms of IT, Dr. Omane Boamah responded in the affirmative.
He said, “As we speak, their collated results for Assin North by-election is not ready although Joe Anokye was there. For instance, as I sit here, with my Smartphone, I know all that is happening in the 268 centers as far as the ongoing limited voter registration exercise is concerned.”
“But we don’t shout or talk about what we are doing. We did it seamlessly in our presidential primaries without noise. From there, we moved to Assin North, we’ve done it. Not that I am over-trusting the team that we have worked with, but as we speak, we’ve worked together for at least two years.”
He disclosed that, prior to his recent appointment as the Director of Elections in charge of IT, the team that deployed the NDC’s IT system for its presidential primary and the Assin North by-election, was chaired by the former Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, an indication that they have adequate human resource to deliver.
“Let me assure our people, that just as we didn’t make noise about the presidential primaries and the collation in Assin North, we’ll deliver.”
Asked whether he believes the NDC’s IT system is robust enough for the national elections, Dr. Omane Boamah retorted, “Don’t worry. I understand perfectly. Don’t forget that it was during my tenure as the Communication Minister, that we built the largest data centre in Africa in Ghana.”
“So, when it comes to robustness, when it comes to redundancy and even having mirror image, we built it such that whatever is happening in the building in Accra, there is a mirror image of it somewhere in Ghana. I believe when you leave government you keep your mouth shut on some of those state secrets. You only pass it on, so that if something bad happens, God forbid, Ghana can have disaster recovery in another region which is not even sharing boundaries with Greater Accra.”
“So, we won’t talk much. We’re only focused on getting the goals, and that’s why I have been appointed to lead the Election IT directorate. We’re working very hard. Some will say I am a Medical Doctor and not an IT person, but when we wrote those wonderful presidential speeches, those who enjoy it don’t care to find out what we know. There’s more than meets the eye.
“As a person, I have lived with internet engineers continuously for two weeks working on all kinds of things in the past. The inventors of the internet, Vinton Cerf and Bob Khan, they are Americans. I have met them, not once. Somewhere 2014 to 2015, when the ITU [International Telecommunications Union] selected 12 people to go and discuss the future of the internet in Brazil, I was one of the people selected from around the world. But must you wear this on your sleeve? No, you must live life like you don’t even know anything.”
For elections 2016 and 2020 which were won by the NPP, the party’s strategy of carrying out its collation of results effectively and efficiently was largely credited for the victories.
As a result, the suggestion in some quarters was that the NDC had been relaxed in terms of policing the ballot and collating its results because it lacked the technical capacity or the human resources to do so.
Dr. Omane Boamah reiterated that beyond the sound IT system put in place, the party’s general strategy on every aspect of the polls will make things difficult for the NPP.
“Over the years, whatever we’ve done we let the collective own it. If we hadn’t come to opposition, who would have known Okudzeto Ablakwa was this prolific in investigations? It is teamwork, and we have a robust team that will deliver it. We still test the system, and we will stress test it with an avalanche of data, far more than it will receive on Election Day” he noted.
He was confident that the NDC is winning the 2024 elections.
“We’ll not lose. Trust me, I know what I am talking about. I am a student of research. I am telling you that the NDC will win the 2024 elections. I hardly rely on pollsters. I am relying on our own internal polls. I am saying that we will not lose the elections” he stressed as the host pushed further.
“It is the reason that when we see the artificial things that are being erected to try and narrow the gap, we fight them vehemently, and one of them is the limited voter registration that the EC is restricting to a few centres. It doesn’t even make sense, permit my saying…that when you were registering 500,000 people you used 1,500 locations, then if you say you’re now registering 1 million 350,000, you’ve rather reduced the centres to 268.”
Source: myjoyonline.com / Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie
