Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensah has justified the commission's decision to publish the full details of persons captured on the electoral roll.
According to her, the commission breached no law by publishing the details because they are mandated by law to publicly put out the details of registered voters.
The Commission chair's comments formed part of her opening remarks at a media training event for Journalists on electoral reporting in Accra.
The commission received a backlash from the public In the wake of the sharing of a Google Drive link containing a list of Ghanaians eligible to exercise their franchise during this year's polls.
The published details included voters' names, ages, polling centers as well as ID
numbers.
A section of the public also raised issues of Data protection.
But in a rebuttal, EC chair Jean Mensah dismissed the claims made by the public.
"C.I. 127 requires that the Provisional voter's 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.
Meanwhile, the Vice-president of IMANI Africa has refuted claims that the Electoral Commission had the automatic right to make public details of the electorate.
Kofi Bentil argued that the laws that allow the Commission to publish the voter's roll (in the manner determined by the commission) also requires the EC to exercise " a careful discretion" when putting out such details.
"It is not true that the Electoral Commission has the automatic right to do this. There is no express authorization 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.
Story by Rodney Tsenuokpor
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