EC�s Deduplication Is Not Done By Human Beings - IT System Expert

IT System Expert, Mr. Yayra Kokudeku has hinted the concept of deduplication as a means of clean up in the voters’ register from multiple registrations was wrongly explained to the political parties to mean deduplication is done before stakeholders.

According to him, the deduplication exercise of the voters' register is done when all data are picked from the various computers at the registration centers onto the main server after the biometric registration.

Speaking on Okay Fm’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show to educate the public on how the biometric system works, Mr. Yayra Kokudeku said it is not human and database administrator as well as system administrator at the database center who click on a button to delete multiple registration.

“After the deduplication by the verification machine, all those found to have registered double are put at one side and the original ones go to another table . . . deduplication has no human intervention and it is the computer that does it, and it is up to the human beings to accept or reject it,” he stressed.

He was however of the view that the Electoral Commission’s terms used to invite stakeholders to witness the deduplication is wrong as the invitation presumes the deduplication is done before all political parties, but rather the invitation is meant for them to come and check the number of people who did multiple registration during the compilation of the register.

He emphasized that the verification machine helps to identify the number of people who have done multiple registration at the various regions; thus the political parties are called to decide on how to deal with the issue.

He believed the EC should have done a lot of consultation to do online verification to avoid multiple registrations and deduplication but hinted the problem of the online verification could have been the lack of network and internet connectivity in villages; giving the reason for the offline verification.

He stressed the use of the offline verification cannot detect multiple registration except when the person who has registered with the same machine decides to go back to the same registration center.