Accra, June 22, GNA - Professor Ernest Dumor, Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), on Thursday said the issuance of voter identification cards with thumbprint or photographs lacked the credentials for accurate recognition of voters.

"The current black and white photographs used for the identification cards do not meet the required format and specifications for facial recognition to be deployed," he said.

"Indeed, in facial recognition, a black and white image does not give you the accurate features required for figure comparisons.

"At the present time the market for black and white has dwindled...this means that even when it comes to cross-referencing with any database with biometric processing facility it would be extremely difficult to do," Prof Dumor, a Former Commissioner of the EC, stated at the launch of a book, "Voting for Democracy in Ghana: The 2004 Elections in Perspective".

The Book is authored by Professor Kwame Boafo-Arthur, Head of Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, and sponsored by the Royal Danish Embassy in Accra.

Prof. Dumor said the manual inspection of the identification cards and thumbprints were also fraught with errors - it is only trained fingerprint experts that could successfully examine it. He explained that the EC did not have a system in place to statistically and mathematically analyse data, neither had it the mechanism for accurate description of the features for facial recognition and fingerprint matching to establish the real identities of voters.

Prof. Dumor, however, recognized that the EC achieved its modest electoral reforms, which resulted in efficient managing of the electoral process and the Commission asserting its constitutional independence and neutrality under very difficult circumstances.

He called for constant environmental, strategic and institutional analysis to strengthen the EC's capacity to improve on the electoral system.

On institutional development and democratic consolidation, Prof Dumor said there was a strong tendency toward a de-facto two-party system as the constituency results as well as the overall national results showed a two-way race between the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

He said the trend confirmed that there was an incipient two-party transition in Ghana, "these two historically have been the Danquah-Busia Tradition and the Nkrumah convention People's Party (CPP) Tradition...it seems that the trend would remain but the Nkrumaist CPP Tradition may well be replaced by Former President Jerry John Rawlings factor, namely the populists-social democratic demonstration". The smaller parties, according to Prof Dumor, seemed not to have any chance for a significant showing in the electoral system especially as the fragmentation of the Nkrumahist parties and their performance in elections indicated clearly that the future would remain bleak for smaller parties.

He noted that in spite of the pre-eminence of NPP and NDC, studies from the constituency level showed that a large proportion of the electorate was neither involved nor registered party members. It seemed that political recruitments did not seem to play a major role in the political strategies of the parties, he noted, "if liberal democratic practice is to thrive the membership base of the political parties must be stringent".

Expatiating on monetary influence in Ghanaian political system, especially during the last elections, the Electoral Expert admitted that the power of money was evident as it played a deceive role in the elections.

He said it had become problematic for democratic consolidation, as apart from cash, other items such as motorbikes; bicycles; wax prints; sewing machines; clothing and fertilizer were given out the electorate and thus fouling the political system.

"The monetization of elections needs to be seriously checked and reviewed to prevent the entire electoral system from being permanently endangered as the use and abuse of money has become catastrophic....In the past, this phenomenon was only noticeable in the rich urban constituencies and districts in the south; today it has become the norm in even extremely poor Northern rural areas," he said.

Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, Editor of the Daily Graphic, who launched the book said the "EC must be supported to do what we want them to do...as one electoral dispute can erase all the political gains over the years.=94