The Electoral Commission has defended its decision to upgrade the software that runs the biometric registration devices.
According to them, the upgrade will among other things help detect the identity cards used for the registration.
Pilot biometric registration on Saturday
The EC has slated Saturday, March 12, 2016, to carry out a pilot biometric registration exercise in some selected polling stations in the country to test the capacity of the devices with the new software.
[contextly_sidebar id=”Yh9WXdJs0FcTLeENHmzhgFvJ63wY63jK”]A statement from the EC said the exercise will be held from 9am-4pm.
“The Electoral Commission has upgraded the Biometric Registration Kits (BVR Kits) for the impending limited voter registration and subsequent registration exercises. The Commission is expected to undertake a pilot registration of voters to test the upgraded kits in selected polling stations in all the ten regions, on Saturday 12th March, 2016, from 9.00a.m. to 4.00p.m,” the statement added.
The acting Director of Public Relations at the EC, Christian Owusu Parry, said on Eyewitness News that he was hopeful the devices will stand the test of time.
Old software couldn’t capture some details
“When we talk about upgrade, we are talking about the upgrade of the software for the biometric registration. In the 2012/2014 revision of the voters register, there were some information that we could not capture on the database.”
This he said was because the old software made it difficult to track certain information saying “now we are trying to introduce a software that will capture every form of identification that the person actually brought to the polling station for the registration. In 2012 we didn’t have that.”
Can the new software stand test of time?
We are also looking at the performance of the kits to see whether the software we have can actually work as fast as we expect it to work, and that is why we are having this particular pilot. We are also looking at whether if a lot of pressure is put on the device, it will be able to stand the test up to the end of the registration exercise.
Supreme Court stops EC from registering people with NHIS cards
The Supreme Court in 2014 ordered the EC to stop registering prospective voters who turned up with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards.
This followed a lawsuit initiated by the then Youth Organizer [now former] of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Abu Ramadan, who challenged the EC’s continuous acceptance of such cards for registration.
NPP wants new voters’ register
However, the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), mounted pressure on the EC to compile a new voters’ register, arguing that the current one was bloated with names of foreigners and minors.
Other pressure groups have also called for auditing of the register following the Supreme Court’s order.
The NPP has already questioned the EC’s latest pilot exercise with the improved software, insisting it may not make a difference on the election day itself.
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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana