Professor Ransford Gyampo
The National Identification Authority (NIA) has given a Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo, a 24-hour ultimatum to publish details of his supposed research on registration equipment.
This is in wake of a Facebook post made by Prof. Gyampo, alleging that the distribution of equipment for the production of the Ghana Cards is skewed to favour the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and to the disadvantage of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Responding to the claim made by the lecturer, the NIA in a statement issued on March 10, 2023 accused Prof. Gyampo of engaging in vile rumour-mongering without any evidential support which amounts to idle.
“NIA respectfully challenges Prof. Gyampo to take out of the realm of conjecture his allegations and so-called research findings and conclusions, by publishing the relevant details of his research within the next 24 hours. This will permit an objective assessment of the nature, purpose, scope and method(s) of the research, as well as the facticity and soundness of his findings and conclusions,” the statement further read in parts.
The NIA described the comments by the lecturer as most scurrilous.
“This is a most scurrilous, astonishing and false allegation, and published by a professor of political science, it is all the more damning and concerning! The publication of this bare statement, without any evidentiary support, amounts to idle rumour-mongering. Such conduct is unbecoming of a professor who must, instead, manifest a commitment to sharing information that is sound and based on accessible and/or testable research. It is never sufficient to publish a bare allegation, simply because one has become aware of it, or dreamt of it! A person minded to publish such a conflict-laden allegation bears a duty of proof and circumspection,” the NIA further stated.
The NIA indicated that it will not go by the advice from Prof. Gyampo to accept his findings, saying that “Prof. Gyampo insists that his comments are grounded in research he has conducted, and he therefore advises NIA to humbly accept the findings and implications of his research and address the identified concerns. NIA has no reasonable basis to accept Prof. Gyampo’s claim.”
By Vincent Kubi