By Amin Kef (Ranger)
Managing Partner & Chief Technology Architect of TpISENT, a company that is made up of ICT consultants, software integrators, web and mobile application developers and graphics designers, Tamba Sheku Lamin, has in an exclusive interview revealed that it is but crucial to record, manage and preserve election data digitally furthering how in that direction he is introducing the Sierra Leone Open Election Data Platform (SLOEDP), available at https://electiondata.io.
According to him, the Sierra Leone Open Election Data Platform is a digital product that collects, aggregates, digitizes, clean, transform, visualize, share, and opens election data further underscoring how it has significant historical and research value.
Tamba Sheku Lamin called on well meaning Sierra Leoneans to join them in encouraging the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL)to start following the nine principles of open election data (timely/ granular) by polling centre/station, ward, constituency, district, region, available for free on the internet, complete and in bulk, analyzable (not PDF), non-proprietary, non-discriminatory, license-free, and permanently available.
He additionally stated that in the interest of transparency and accountability, SLOEDP follows the National Democracy Institute’s nine “open election data” principles adding how they rely on credible election data, and ECSL is the primary source for such data.
The Managing Partner & Chief Technology Architect went on to disclose that SLOEDP was first used successfully in 2018, and they plan to use it to monitor, observe and report on the upcoming elections adding that they believe the platform can significantly enhance transparency and accountability in the electoral processes and complement digital publishing efforts.
He also added that the platform provides real-time and open access to data on voter activities, candidate activities, boundaries, calendar of events, and results using data published by ECSL, NEW, together with citizen-generated data and other election bodies in Sierra Leone and abroad.
“Our platform also monitors violence in elections, particularly against women,” he also informed further stating that the platform will also allow citizens to engage and participate in the democratic process beyond just voting maintaining that promoting civic engagement has merits.
He said ensuring that the elections are free, fair, and transparent and that all stakeholders widely accept results should be imperative to ECSL saying like in 2018, they requested help to encourage the ECSL to consider collaborating with them by sharing data using the nine principles of open election data on ec.gov.sl or establish a data repository where they can collect timely data in bulk for use by their platform.
Tamba Sheku Lamin said individuals can download (https://bit.ly/sloedp-chapter) their book chapter on Open Data and Records Management to learn more saying they created peace message illustrations that are also available for download (https://bit.ly/sloedp-peace)
He said upon request, their team will provide more information on the platform, including technical specifications and user manuals concluding how they are also happy to assist with implementing and deploying the platform should a decision made to adopt it.
