After four days of internet outages, Dr Omane Boamah, the Director of Elections for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has reassured Ghanaians, particularly those aligned with the opposition party, regarding concerns that the ruling government may intentionally replicate this situation on election day.
The ongoing data interruption has caused significant inconvenience, negatively impacting businesses and online transactions.
Some individuals have implicated the government, suggesting that they might disrupt the network on election day to manipulate the outcome in their favour, similar to the current situation.
However, in a Facebook post, the Director of Elections has alleviated the fears of those who hold this belief.
He asked that them not to panic, indicating that “This disruptive development is part of the reason we keep emphasising the need to recruit quality human resources for the activities lined up before, during, and after voting until Mrs. Jean Mensah declares HE John Dramani Mahama President”.
Read his statement below
Arising from the major disruption of data services yesterday, which I cannot rule out cyberattack until proven otherwise, many have expressed genuine concerns about the upcoming December 07, 2024 elections.
Your concerns are genuine and germane! But don’t panic!!!
This disruptive development is part of the reason we keep emphasising the need to recruit quality human resource for the activities lined up before, during, and after voting until Mrs. Jean Mensah declares HE John Dramani Mahama President.
I urge you to concentrate on what lies within your control instead of thinking IT is the only solution to electoral problems.
Let’s continue to work on human resource mobilisation and training across the country.
And I’ll add, leave the rest to us…
The government of Ghana, together with local and international stakeholders must also provide accurate and verifiable information about the cause(s) and causal associations that led to this data disruption because citizens deserve to know.
Meanwhile, the National Communications Authority (NCA) has provided an update regarding the data disruption, revealing that all four subsea cables connecting Ghana to Europe via Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal are currently inactive.
This is the underlying cause of the widespread internet outage experienced across the country. According to a statement issued by the NCA, the cable landing service providers in Ghana, namely ACE, MainOne, SAT-3, and WACS, have been completely disconnected from international data services.
“As at the time of this update, all four (4) subsea cables from Ghana to Europe through Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal are still out of service. The Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and subsea cable landing service providers continue to work with international partners within the sub-region whose cables have not been impacted by the current outage to provide some connectivity while troubleshooting and restoration work progresses.
“Additionally, the MNOs are also leveraging on local caches (like content from the Ghana Internet Exchange (GIX) and other local in-house caches), to provide efficient data services.
“The NCA continues to monitor the situation and is working around the clock with MNOs, subsea cable landing service providers and all relevant stakeholders to provide timelines when available, with regards to full restoration of data services,” portions of the statement read.