EC sold voters data to private firm without an agreement – Auditor-General

The Electoral Commission (EC) sold voters data to a local software development company without an official agreement, a special audit report carried out by the Auditor-General has revealed.

According to the report, BSystems Limited obtained the data from the EC and further sold it to financial institutions at a fee.

It said however that BSystems failed to remit 20 per cent of the commission due the EC in 2016 and 2017.

 “There was no Agreement between the Electoral Commission and Bsystems Limited who obtains Electoral Data from the Commission and offers it to the Financial Institutions for a fee. We further noted that, Bysystem Ltd. failed to remit the 20% commission due the Electoral Commission, in respect of charges for accessing the data, for the 2016 and 2017 financial years,” the report noted.

According to the report, the EC, in response to the findings, stated that, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Commission and BSystems Limited; but the MoU was suspended in the third quarter of 2016.

According to the EC, Bsystems Limited made payment for the first and second quarters in 2016.

The Auditor General however said the MoU does not constitute a Service Level Agreement and that there was no evidence of the suspension of the MoU as stated by the EC.

The Auditor-General, therefore, recommended that management of the EC makes available the contract agreement on the arrangement if any, and recover all outstanding commission due to the Electoral Commission within 30 days from the receipt of the management letter.

It further warned that officers who approved the deal will be surcharged should the EC fail to adhere to the recommendation.

“We recommended to management to furnish the Agreement on the existing contract if any, for our review. We also urged management to recover all outstanding commission due the Electoral Commission within 30 days from the date of the management letter; failing which the contract is should be abrogated and the persons who approved and authorised the transaction, surcharged accordingly,” the report said.