Don’t use big English to dismiss glaring challenges – Gyampo fires NIA again

A political science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo, has lashed out at the National Identification Authority (NIA) again following a response he received after he criticised the authority.

Prof. Gyampo had lashed out at the NIA over challenges in registering Ghanaians amid a proposal by the Electoral Commission to make the Ghana card the sole identification document to register to vote.

The lecturer also said the NIA has “trust deficit” a tag vehemently rejected by the Authority in a rejoinder.

In his counter-statement to the NIA’s response, Prof. Gyampo insisted that, the National Identification Authority’s “responses are shrouded in half-truths and this is what is referred to as propaganda. You guys can tickle yourselves and laugh just in the quest to protect your jobs. But some of us won’t allow you to plunge Ghana into chaos and flee the country with your Diplomatic or Serviced Passports”.

He used the opportunity to advise the NIA to among other things fix the glaring challenges in its system and also engage the Minority in Parliament instead of using “big English to be dismissive of challenges that stare at us in the face”.

Read below Professor Gyampo’s full statement

Dear NIA,
I saw a very formal statement of response from your outfit to my banter with Prof Attafuah on Newsfile two weeks ago. I never thought I was this big or important to deserve such an attention from a whole institution that is supposed to be busy focusing on registering people it has been deficient in registering, culminating in long queues, payment of money, and near stampedes at the NIA headquarters.

NIA, your responses are shrouded in half-truths and this is what is referred to as propaganda. You guys can tickle yourselves and laugh just in the quest to protect your jobs. But some of us won’t allow you to plunge Ghana into chaos and flee the country with your Diplomatic or Serviced Passports.

Kindly engage the leaders of the opposition parties again and do not live in the past. The comments of Jerry Rawlings and co, were given in the past and no one has qualms with the relevance of Ghana Card. Indeed, long before Prof Ken Attafuah got his appointment, some of us had argued for the need for all identity cards to be synchronized into one card. So, it’s not a big deal if other eminent statesmen and women applauded the move to have Ghana card.

What is contentious, however, is the disagreement on the use of the Ghana Card as the sole source document for voter registration and the fact that the NIA has hugely imponderable challenges that it’s top officials share only in the private. We need the Ghana Card but let’s hasten slowly. There is no point for this inordinate haste which creates unnecessary feeling of suspicion that has the tendency to lead to implosion, given how the use of Ghana card alone, as the source document for voter registration, could impact hugely on the electoral fortunes of political parties.

Rather than citing what a dead founder of a political party said in support of the Ghana Card, let the NIA listen to the voices of the living about the dangers of intransigence and unwillingness to build consensus on the use of the Card as the sole document for voter registration. Let the NIA and Prof Attafuah not use eloquence and big English to be dismissive of challenges that stares at us in the face. Prof Attafuah was in parliament and he saw the reaction of the minority group. Using one side of the argument of Dominic Ayine on radio to support the counter view that, the NIA doesn’t have trust deficit, is quite disingenuous. Professors must analyze things from a holistic view point. There are two sides to every coin and as we seek to build Ghana, our efforts must be aimed at protecting the national interest and not to tout one’s supposed achievements that are highly contentious.

Yaw Gyampo
A31, Prabiw
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Suro Nipa House
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