A former Deputy Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC) has bemoaned the ongoing controversy over the EC's decision to compile a new voters’ register.

David Kanga describing the controversy as “unfortunate, argued that it is borne out of the opposing authors’ refusal to listen to the other side carefully.

“The Electoral Commission on one side and the other side being those of us whether political parties or NGOs, I would have wished that the attempt at getting total consensus would have succeeded,” he said.

Dr Kanga said the prolonged controversy seems to point to a lack of total confidence in the system.

The EC, meanwhile, remains resolute.

According to the Deputy Director of Research at the Commission, Fred Tetteh, the compilation is set to go ahead as scheduled, that is April 18 to ending of May.

He said the Commission has explained itself on various platforms on the issue and remains convinced that a new voter management solution is the way to go.

Speaking to JoyNews on Thursday, he reiterated that the pieces of equipment are at their end of life and the EC cannot conduct the 2020 elections with them.

He said security features of the electoral roll need to be upgraded.

Policy think tank, IMANI, however, maintains that the EC cannot meet the timeline if it goes ahead with the compilation.

According to a Senior Vice President of IMANI, Bright Simmons, the EC has to use a short cut to meet the timeline, but “the problem with shortcuts is they can be dangerous,” he said at a press briefing.

The Inter-Party Resistance Against New Voters’ Register is also another fierce foe to the compilation of the register.

The coalition has held a number of protests across the country in a bid to coerce the EC to kowtow to their demands.