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Rumours circulating in the political grapevine that Super Tech Limited (STL) will be among the companies selected to be part of the electronic transmission of the results of Election 2016 on December 7, 2016 have turned out to be completely false, independent checks by The New Crusading GUIDE have confirmed.

Our checks at the Electoral Commission(EC) have indicated that four (4) telecommunication networks in the country; namely TIGO, MTN, VODAFONE and AIRTEL are the entities which have been contracted to undertake the transmission of the election results from the Constituency Collation Centres to the National Collation Centre in Accra.

“The STL has no role to play in the results transmission process. TIGO, MTN, VODAFONE and AIRTEL are those who will do the transmission. Everything else will be the responsibility of the Electoral Commission”, articulated a highly-placed source at the EC.

Our Source explained that the four telcos were selected through an open system that was advertised. The country was divided into zones and for each zone, tenders were evaluated and awarded. The other telcos will provide back-up services.

“We worked with them (telcos) through the Telecoms Chamber. So if the primary telco’s network goes down, the other telcos will provide back-up”, clarified the EC Source.

It was also revealed that the Election Management Authority of Zambia provided the software and helped its Ghanaian counterpart (EC) with software customization. Some Technical Personnel of EC Zambia are in Ghana to provide technical support for the process.

From the foregoing, it is obvious that the rumours that the STL would be part of the transmission of results of the 2016 Elections cannot and are not true.

It will be recalled that during Election 2016, rumours of alleged electronic manipulation of election results, resulted in the massing up of an angry crowd made up of NPP supporters near their (STL) Dzorwulu offices.  It took the timely intervention of the high-powered ECOWAS Election observer Team led by former Nigerian President General Olusegun Obasanjo and the Security Services to restore order and calm the tensed situation which occurred.

Subsequent independent investigations by The New Crusading GUIDE have shown that those rumours were unfounded. The STL played no role in the transmission of election results in 2012 even though some political circles continue to persist in circulating that rumour and falsehood.

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission, on Saturday, November 26, 2016, demonstrated the results transmission system to all the political parties contesting the December 7 general elections. So far, no political party has expressed dissatisfaction with the demonstration and the arrangements set out to go with the system on the D-Day.

In an interview with James Kwabena Bonfeh, the Director of Elections of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), he expressed satisfaction at the demonstration saying “if things would go the way they demonstrated it, then we will surely get a very transparent credible results.”

Beyond the electronic transmission by the four telcos, Mr Bonfeh popularly known as Kabila further explained that “it is a two-way process. Hard copies of the Constituency collation sheets would also be sent to the National Collation Centre to authenticate each other before declaration”.

When contacted, Mr Martin Adjei Mensah Korsah, Director of Elections of the New Patriotic Party also expressed satisfaction at the demonstration of transmission of election results and hoped “there will be no unforeseen hitches on the day of election”.

Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, a Vice Chairperson and in charge of elections of the ruling National Democratic Congress could not express his views with The New Crusading GUIDE yesterday as he said he was at a rally in Volta Region.