Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo, is warning of dire consequences should the Electoral Commission (EC) use the Ghana card as a sole source document for voter registration.
In his view, there is serious trust deficit among political parties on the functioning and the role of both the National Identification Authority (NIA) and the EC.
This comes after the Constitutional Instrument (CI) that seeks to make the Ghana Card the sole document for voter registration was laid in Parliament.
The EC argued that the Ghana Card is the most authentic means of identifying Ghanaians, hence the Commission’s decision to use it in compiling a new database of voters.
But the Minority in Parliament has vehemently opposed the CI, noting that, it will disenfranchise voters.
This kind of confusion, Prof Gyampo said on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem Monday, is what the EC must avoid.
According to him, already the opposition political parties are certain the ruling party New Patriotic Party wants to use the Ghana Card as a way of rigging the election.
The only way to allay such fears, Prof. Gyampo stated is for the EC to build consensus with political actors on the use of the Ghana Card as the sole source document for the registration of voters.
This, he said is the best approach to engender trust in the electoral system.