General News of Tuesday, 1 November 2016

Source: 3news.com

EC website taken down ahead of December polls

The official website of Ghana’s Electoral Commission has been taken down ahead of the December 7 elections, raising questions as to whether the recently launched site has been hacked.

For the last two weeks, users and visitors to the domain www.ec.gov.gh are greed with a blank statement. There is no notice whatsoever on the site informing visitors of whatever challenges being experienced on the website as is the norm in instances of technical or development issues.

But officials told 3FM Tuesday the issues affecting the website are technical in nature but declined to state exactly what those issues are. Deputy Head of Communications and Public Affairs at the Electoral Commission, Yusif Ayuba who confirmed the breakdown of the site said they are working to resolve the challenges.

“We are experiencing some technical challenge and we are working very hard to rectify it and as soon as we do, the website will be up and doing,” he said but could not tell when it will be fixed.

The Commission’s website, which was launched in April this year as part of the EC’s five-year strategic plan, has a database of most of Ghana’s elections from 1992 to 2012, the number of people on the voters’ register and the number of constituencies as well as other relevant electoral information.

The website has been a reference point of some key credible sources of information for users and journalists.