WINDHOEK FRED GOEIEMAN
A court case involving the alleged fraudulent registration of a person on an Election Commission of Namibia (ECN) voters' roll has begun to lift the veil on alleged breaches in computer security at the commission.
The Windhoek Regional Court was temporarily transferred to the ECN premises yesterday to allow the proceedings to view computer system evidence in the case.
The former director of elections, Philemon Kanime, and two accused are facing a criminal charge after allegedly fraudulently registering one of the accused as a voter ahead of the Omuthiya Local Authority election in 2008.
Government systems analyst Stefanus van Staden testified yesterday at the ECN premises that the evidence against Kanime was circumstantial and that the passwords to access the ECN computer network were passed from person to person.
Kanime, former Namibia Bus and Taxi Association (Nabta) president Magnus Nangombe and ECN systems administrator Nico Mingelius are the accused in the matter. They are charged with fraudulently registering Nangombe as a voter in the Omuthiya Local Authority election, while he was not entitled to be registered. Nangombe was the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) candidate in the poll before his name was removed from the voters' roll.
Van Staden said yesterday that Mingelius's access to the ECN server was restricted after certain rumours started to circulate.
It was put to the witness that on April 29, 2008, another voter called Magnus Nangolo's name was removed from the voters' roll by a certain Mala, who is also an official of the ECN. Van Staden said he did not know why the person's name was removed but that it could only be done because the person had died, or after receiving an instruction from a higher authority.
Van Staden could also not dispute that somebody might have had access to the server using Kanime's password on February 2, 2009, when Kanime was not in Windhoek.
He also conceded that Mingelius was never granted exclusive access to the voters' roll.
Dr Paul Ludik, a forensic expert who was instructed by the Namibian police and the ECN to investigate the case, produced three reports which were handed in as exhibits. He looked at the voter registration forms, serial numbers of the forms, date stamps and voter card numbers.
He said he was contacted by Victor Tonchi, the chairperson of the ECN, to determine whether there had been a security breach at the ECN premises.
According to Ludick the back-up server attached to the computers contains removable storage drives. It was discovered that one of the storage drives was absent and that it must have been removed. Both storage drives were kept at the ECN in the custody of Tonchi, while the voters' roll was left at the premises.
Ludik testified that it is possible to update data without erasing the transaction, but unfortunately it is not possible to identify the person who does this. Apparently the supervisor had privileges to access the system through a user name. He said they had allegedly established the user was Mingelius.
The hearing continues today before Magistrate Sarel Jacobs.