Missing laptops won’t affect December polls – Jean Mensa

The Chairperson for the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa has assured that the recent theft of five laptops from the EC office will not impact the upcoming polls.

The theft had raised concerns about the potential impact on the electoral process, with the National Democratic Congress calling for an independent investigation and audit.

However, while briefing Parliament on preparations towards the December polls, Jean Mensa reiterated that the missing laptops contained no sensitive information and were separate from the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits.

She emphasised that the theft would not compromise the integrity of the elections, as the laptops require activation and security clearance to be connected to the EC’s system.

She reassured the public that the EC is committed to maintaining the security and integrity of the electoral process.

“And then with the BVD, yes, I think we, we’ve mentioned over time that what we lost were five laptops and that was realised doing a routine maintenance. However, you know, we’ve taken steps to beef up our security in those places to ensure that, you know, these such steps will not happen again. But I think we’ve assured you many times that it has no bearing. You know, the missing laptops have no bearing on the registration of the election.”

“Indeed, even if you assume that a BVR or a BVD was stolen, let’s assume because humans go there, they can be mischievous to carry the whole thing, they have to be activated. There are certain security processes that a BVD or a BVR has to go through to be connected to our system. And so on its own, it cannot be used to register any more.”