Auditor-General report reveals EC sold voters’ data to private company without an agreement

A special audit carried out by the Auditor-General on the Electoral Commission has revealed the Commission sold voters’ data to an Accra-based software development company.

According to the report, the software development company, Bysystem Ltd, bought the data from the EC and further sold them to financial service providers for a fee.

The Audit on the EC was part of special audits carried out by the Auditor-General on selected state institutions in 2018.

The audit report also revealed that there was no agreement between the EC and Bysystem Limited on the sale of voters’ information.

“We further noted that Bysystem Ltd. failed to remit the 20% commission due the Electoral Commission, in respect of charges for accessing the data, for the 2016 and 2017 financial years,” the report stated.

The EC, according to the report, responded to its findings and stated that “there exists a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the commission and Bysystem Limited.”

The EC also said it suspended the MoU in the third quarter of 2016 and that prior to the suspension, the software development company had made a payment for the first and second quarters in 2016.

However, the Auditor-General, after reviewing the MoU, said it did not constitute a Service Level Agreement.

Furthermore, the report revealed that the basis of the 20% commission is not stated in the MoU.

Also, the Auditor-General said there was no evidence of the suspension of the MoU as stated by management in their response.

The Auditor-General has since recommended that the EC make available the contract agreement on the arrangement, if any, and recover all outstanding commission due to the Electoral Commission within 30 days from the receipt of the management letter.

It warned that failure to do so means the contract shall be abrogated and the approving and authorising officers surcharged.