The Country's Political Parties Have Been "Inefficient" & "Deficient" - Political Lecturer

A Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Ransford Gyampo has rubbished calls by the minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) for a new voters' register. Dr. Ransford Gyampo claimed the NPP's call does not carry weight to justify why the Electoral Commission (EC) should change the voters' register. According to him, the credibility of the voters' register was undermined by political parties themselves and so, whether old or new voters' register will not resolve electoral malpractices in the country. This, to him, is because if the parties cannot comply with what he called "inherent mechanisms" set up to check any act of malpractice; then a new register will virtually do nothing. “Who undermined the credibility of the voters’ register? Is it not the political parties themselves? Who passed aliens and minors to the registration centers? And when they were challenged, you protested? “Will a call for a new voters’ register suddenly make the political parties repentant of their corrupt practices that bloat the register? If you call for fresh register today, does it mean that the NPP will not pass people there? Does it mean that the NDC will not do same?” he questioned. Speaking at an IEA national debate forum themed; "Towards a Credible and Peaceful 2016 Elections: A Review of the State of Ghana's Voters Register and the Way Forward", Dr. Ransford Gyampo called for proper measures to be undertaken to prevent political parties from bloating the register. “If we’re not thinking about mechanisms and measures to keep the political parties at bay to prevent them from bloating and undermining the credibility of the voters’ register, then I think simply calling for a fresh register is too simplistic…” “...our political parties have been inefficient and deficient and also failed to make use of such avenues and platforms.”

Source: Adu Gyamfi Ameyaw/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana