ELECTION 2004: Results To Be Online

Mawutodzi K. Abissath

 Daily Graphic December, 30, 2004

AT this critical hour in Ghana's political history reminds me of the hour our Master Jesus the Christ was about to be crucified on Golgotha. Ghanaians should relax and take inspiration from this Ewe proverb which says: "A prince does not rush out to go and watch the king in the street; after all the king is coming to the royal home."

Thanks to the magic of Information Communication Technology (ICT), the Information Services Department (ISD), in collaboration with the Electoral Commission (EC) and the International Institute for Communication and Development (lICD), will be publishing this year's election results online.

The simple truth is that besides the traditional way of mounting scoreboards at the Independence Square in Accra and at public places in various districts and regions throughout the country, elections results for this year will be released on GoG Portal (website) live within the premises of the Ministry of Information in Accra. In this respect, all Ghanaians, both home and abroad, who have access to the Internet must simply visit the Ghana Portal, www.ghana.gov.gh  Then, while on the home page of the portal they will see the emblems of all the four political parties contesting the presidential and parliamentary elections beautifully flashing on the page. Just place your cursor underneath the party logos click on "Click Here" and you will be taken straight to the "Elections 2004 Page".

The Ghana Portal is bringing the election results right to them in the comfort of their homes or wherever they might be. They may no longer have to rush out into the harmattan weather to go and watch the results on the scoreboard outside. But it is only those who have access to the Internet who can enjoy this online service for now. Hopefully, one day when the whole of Ghana is interconnected and networking, every home will benefit as well.

It is relevant to inform the general public that by the time this article is published "Elections 2004 Page" would have already been uploaded on the Ghana Portal with some background information about elections in Ghana.

For example, the "Political Parties Code of Conduct 2004", the portraits and profiles of all the four presidential candidates, namely; Dr Edward N.Mahama of the Grand Coalition (GC), the President of Ghana, Mr John A.Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Professor John E. Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Mr George O. Aggudey of the Convention People's Party (CPP) are there on the national website.

It is important to explain that the "Elections 2004 Page" is still under review, so some information there will be updated as we go along. The ISD has officially written to all political parties concerned, requesting for specific information, including portraits and profiles of their respective presidential candidates.

Their co-operation is imperative in this regard. Information can be sent through the following e-mail addresses: webmaster@moi.gov.gh and dirisd@ghana.com . Meanwhile, researchers, media practitioners, students and diplomatic missions and political scientists who are in dire need of basic information and some past election results of Ghana will have their frustrations minimised considerably.

Some of these vital pieces of information can be accessed on the Ghana Portal. Other related links such as the Electoral Commission, the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) as well as most Ghanaian media houses that have their own web sites are all linked up to the Ghana Portal for easy access to those who do not know the individual URLs or website addresses of those institutions.

The climax of the "Elections 2004 Page" will start on December 7 when Ghanaians will go to the polls to cast their votes to elect their leaders for the next four years. This writer wishes to add his voice to the call on the electorate to respect the electoral laws of the land and vote in peace, harmony, love, kindness, understanding and tolerance, so that at the end of it all, everybody will  raise their hands  towards the heavens and sing hosanna  alleluia! (Can somebody say AAAA AMEN!!!!!)

On the D-Day, all things being equal, election results can be accessed live on the portal as the Electoral Commission releases them concurrently. As a national website, the Ghana Portal will endeavour to publish online only election results that are confirmed by the Electoral Commission. This is to ensure that any information, especially, election results put on the Portal are authentic, authoritative, accurate, credible and reliable.

This online service by the ISD through the Ghana Portal constitutes the practical manifestation of the E-Government policy of the Government of Ghana to deliver public services to its citizens electronically.

In Singapore, the government's e-government slogan is: "Any service that can be delivered electronically must be delivered electronically" Period! Ghana only established its national website, dubbed GoG Portal www.ghana.gov.gh in April 2003 and therefore, cannot at this moment compare its online services delivery to that of a country like Singapore.

As already stated in a previous article on E-Government, Singapore is sharing a position with the United States of America, second only to Canada in the whole world in terms of online services delivery. But Singapore set off on its E-Government journey 25 years ago. Nevertheless, the successful publication of this year's general election results online will mark the first step of Ghana's E-Government journey of a thousand miles.

The author works with Information Services Department (ISD) abissath@gmail.com

NB: This article was first published by the Daily Graphic December, 30, 2004