You only hack into a system when you are connected via internet, or any form of connectivity using electronic means, but the system we are using is not connected via internet so it cannot be hacked.”
This statement was made by the Chief of External Relation of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) Albert Massaquoi in response to allegation made by the All People’s Congress (APC) party that the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) has devised means of hacking into the Commission’s data to retrieve certain data.
Albert said that “there is no way that any person, institution or entity can hack into the NEC system. It is not possible and it is a mere utterance. There are issues that we should take note of? If you have your phone, if it’s is not connected to any system nobody will hack into it” he said
He said adding that it is the same with computer if it is not connected to any system nobody will hack into it, “our servers or computers are not connected to the internet. Secondly, we have different cadre of security checks from National, Regional, Districts, Centers and even Ward levels.”
The Chief of External Affairs maintained that the Commission has different operatives as there is no one individual that has monopoly in accessing any information.
This in essence means that “before the kit goes to the Center, you have the Administrator at District level, who enters in certain information and gives the kit over that is his own limitation, (then) you also have the Ward Coordinator (who) also enters his information this is a round process.”
He explained that “in the reverse order any information that goes into the kits is not being retrieved or removed or saved in any other format. Even if it is garbage that goes in it stays there. Anything that goes in you don’t erase as long as you have saved it. That simply means, if you are registering, there is a mistake in your data we will give you another form which is a replacement for the previous registration. After which they will redo all the process again and input it in the system. This means that when once this information has been inputted it cannot be discarded.”
He reiterated that “everything that goes in does not come out, so there is no one individual that can retrieve any information from our systems. When the registrar registers he or she cannot do anything unless the Ward Coordinator authorizes, the Administrator alone cannot do anything unless the District Coordinator authorizes, this process runs right through to National level (and) that is how it operates, so you have to talk to about ten different people just to enter the system. So it will not be easy to get all the people together to access our system” he said.
By Betty Milton
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