Technology and democracy in Cameroon

It is interesting that ELECAM thought of using a real database in the electoral process. The database donated by UNDP whose functionality is not known to the political actors and which was unfortunately widely publicize seem to us the civil society and syndicates to be a democratic suicidal pill delivered to Cameroon by UNDP. We have observed with disappointment active effort of the UNDP to promote and uphold the database irrespective of the public complains and request to access and asses the effectiveness of the system.   

There has been no meaningful dialogue between stakeholders and ELECAM as to the application of modern technology in the advancement of democracy. From simple voter verification by sms to voter registration promotion by sms has been either delayed or out rightly refused by ELECAM and intrusively by the state.

The civil society and syndicates must therefore double efforts in the use of technology in the electoral process by pushing ahead discussions, supporting and reviewing proposed solutions together with ELECAM and other experts to eliminate the fears and suspicions that now give sleepless nights to the ELECAM team.

The following systems are in place as technology towards the elections and should be jointly reviewed and adopted by the proposing organizations/institutions, ELECAM and the civil society:

1.      The Database donated by UNDP

2.      The voter verification system proposed and tested by LUKMEF

3.      The voters registration by Transparency international Cameroon

4.      The Ushahidi event monitoring system by LAGA and Kick-corruption

Based on the current situations, it is likely that the internet and mobile communication networks may be tampered with around the election days. Remember that twitter has once been targeted for shutdown in Cameroon and that discussions have also been held targeting other social medias.

We must therefore be ready for such worst case scenarios.