Facing a sentence of life imprisonment, Nelson Mandela said in the famous Rivonia Trial on April 24, 1964: “Democracy is an ideal I wish to live for, but if need be, it is an ideal I am prepared to die for.” President J.A. Kufuor is reported in the Ghanaian Times ( Friday May 25, 2007) to have said at a meeting with Ghanaian residents in Belgium that his Government had good intentions in passing the Representation of the People Amendment Act (ROPAA) in February 2006 but its implementation should wait until a national identity card system is implemented first. When will this be? The President certainly does not think it would happen in time for the 2008 national elections therefore from his perspective and to stay above any suspicion of fraudulent elections, Ghanaians Living Abroad (GLAs) should wait and sit out 2008.

National identification cards have not been a requirement of voting since universal suffrage was introduced into the Gold Coast and continued into Ghana. Given this, does the President’s declared position portend a constitutional crisis that may actually mar the 2008 elections if ROPAA is not implemented? Three GLAs have filed a writ in a court in Kumasi to seek performance by the Electoral Commission. It is unfortunate that while this is pending, our dear President has to make this statement and speak about the government’s intentions in the past tense.  So far we have not heard anything from the Electoral Commission about how they plan to register GLAs to vote knowing that there is no national identification system in Ghana as there has not been for all four national elections under the 1992 constitution.

It is unfortunate that our internationally esteemed President has taken a public position that may prejudice the EC’s work and set the stage for unending challenges to the 2008 election results. If the real concern is the identification of a Ghanaian and cost, we already have the dual citizenship law that is hardly promoted but if done, could generate enough registration fees to finance overseas voting. We dare say that GLAs are more documented, in spite of reports of fake Ghana passports, than would warrant an across- the-board dismissal.

It is unfortunate that Africa’s darling President would in the same speech cite fear of being accused of rigging elections as another reason to freeze ROPAA’s implementation. If these reasons are taken to their logical conclusion then the entire 2008 elections in Ghana should be frozen because when the book “Stolen Verdict” was written after the 1992 elections, the votes did not count GLAs (except for the very limited classes under PNDC Law 284). The rigging that the publication complained about was done not in New York or Lagos but in Ghana. Of course, in a simplistic way, others may question the value of ROPAA when the country is thrown in darkness and faces many problems of subsistence. To this we answer that there are several tracks to nation building and development.

There will always be significant problems facing the country and indeed those same problems account for the increasing number of Ghanaians who leave their country and feel duty-bound to deny themselves and send money home to prevent the bottom from falling from under their families- something the President gratefully pegs at $4 billion. If the logic is to wait until all the “serious problems” are solved, then we might as well say that we only pay lip service to democracy and inclusion of all Ghanaians in our national development. The vote is step one to getting all hands on deck to solve the problems that haunt all of us whether living at home or abroad. Poor roads, inadequate power and poverty have always been with us since Dom Diego de Azambuja set foot on our land in 1482 yet these have not stopped national elections.

In deed they did not even stop the extension of the vote to a select group of Ghanaians living abroad i.e. those in the government’s service. Why now? If Act 699 (ROPAA) is not implemented for the 2008 national elections, does it mean that people serving in Ghana’s missions and international organizations; military assignments abroad ; and on Ghana Government scholarships will also not vote in 2008? If their franchise continues in the presence of the 2006 ROPAA that extends the same right to vote to ALL Ghanaians of 18 and sound mind without regard to residence, then who would answer to claims of discrimination and abrogation of rights? We await the Electoral Commission to tell us why or why not; how and when. Constitutionally, the Electoral Commission is the only body mandated to come out with the modalities for the implementation of Act 699 which Parliament has passed and the President has duly assented to. It is unfortunate that the President did not wait for the EC’s recommendations, and defer his comments, without prejudicing the pending court case against.

The ethos of Mandela lives, even among Ghanaians.

Wednesday, 30 May 2007 The Electoral Commission has denied reports that it has a budget of over ¢500 billion for the implementation of the Representation of the People’s Amendment Law. The Daily Dispatch newspaper on Tuesday said the EC was considering a tentative budget of ¢522 billion for the implementation of the law that allows Ghanaians abroad to vote. But the Commission says it presently does not have the basis and cannot put a figure on how much it will cost to implement the law.

The EC’s Director of Human Resource, Samuel York-Aidoo however said the Commission was working with a budget, earmarked for the first step of a study tour to hold consultations ahead of the implementation. He however could not say how many of the study tours the Commission intended to make and also when the law would be implemented. Three US-based Ghanaians have sued the Commission and the Attorney General to get them to implement the law. \

On a recent trip to Belgium, President Kufuor is quoted to have told the Ghanaian community there that they may not be able to exercise their franchise during the 2008 elections, citing the absence of the national ID cards and other structural difficulties. Source:

Thursday, 10 May 2007 Three prominent Ghanaians domiciled in the United States of America have dragged the Electoral Commission and Government, represented by the Attorney General, to court to compel them to implement the provisions of the Representation of the People's (Amendment) Act (Act 699) in next year"s general elections, as well as any other elections in the country. They also contend that the right to vote ought to go with the right to be voted for. This suit follows the 2005 passage of the law which allows Ghanaian expatriates to exercise their constitutional right to vote in ghanaian elections.

The suit was filed at the High Court, Kumasi on Tuesday May 8 by Kofi Antwi Boateng, a high-powered accountant based in New York City, Dr Agyenim Boateng, an Assistant Attorney-General with the State of Kentucky, and Kwasi Sarpong Afrifa, Grants Administrator for the renowned Ford Foundation. With the passage of ROPAA, which enables them to vote, the three men, all holders of dual citizenship, are challenging the constitutional provision which debars them from being voted for as MPs or President or taking up ministerial appointments. A fetter they describe as violating their fundamental human rights. The three are asking the court to compel the EC "to take all the necessary precaution or steps to ensure that the plaintiffs are duly registered so as to exercise their constitutional, legal and fundamental human rights” in order to vote.

They refer to the combined effects of ROPAA and Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution, an entrenched provision guaranteeing the franchise to every Ghanaian of 18 and of sound mind, as imposing a mandatory responsibility on the EC. Indeed, they contend that “even though Act 699 has long been passed”, government and the EC “hcent local elections.ave failed to take the necessary step or steps for the plaintiffs to exercise their right to vote” during the recent elections. All three men, with addresses where notices can be served on them in Ghana, have been very active in organising Ghanaians in the Diaspora to be actively involved in the evolving political processes in Ghana. They all remit frequently to Ghana, according to the suit filed by their lawyer, Nana Obiri Boahen of Enso Nyame Ye Chambers, Sunyani. The debate over the implementation of ROPAA has stirred up entrenched partisan positions, with the National Democratic Congress leading the opposition.

Last week, Foreign Minister Nana Akufo-Addo, addressing an international stakeholders’ forum on external voting, noted that with the passage of ROPAA in 2005, additional burdens had been imposed on the Electoral Commission, particularly financial ones."It is the expectation that the Commission will negotiate these additional financial requirements with the relevant public authorities so that adequate resources will be found to enable the Commission carry out its constitutional and statutory obligations," Nana Akufo-Addo said. This may explain the decision by the three men to join the Attorney-General to the suit since the primary responsibility to finance the exercise rests on Government.

He observed that there is further expectation that the Commission will do its best to ensure that the new law is applied as soon as possible, preferably for the next great popular consultation scheduled for December 2008. Laws on the statute books, which are unapplied, undermine the rule of law, was his contention. But National Democratic Congress flagbearer John Evans Atta Mills contends Ghana is not yet ready to implement ROPAA. He questions the rationale behind the view expressed by his potential rival in the 2008 presidential race, Nana Akufo-Addo."This action by the Minister confirms our suspicions when we objected to the passage of this law," Prof Mills told The Statesman earlier in the week.

Source:Statesman

Don't force the Electoral Commission (EC) to implement the Representation of the People's Amendment Law (ROPAL) for the 2008 general election, Mr Felix Nyarko-Antwi, Vice Chairman of the Mfantseman West Constituency of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has urged party functionaries.

Leave that decision to the EC, he said adding that, "The implementation of the Law is a prerogative of the EC". "We should allow the Commission to prepare well for its take-off", Mr Nyarko-Antwi, stated in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Mankessim, on Tuesday. He noted that the entrenched position taken by the two leading parties on the implementation of the law posed a threat to "our fragile democracy". Mr Nyarko-Antwi stated that the implementation of the Law would be "cost intensive" while there were other pressing issues such as the energy crisis, which also needed huge sums of money to solve.

He expressed doubts if the government could raise enough money for the EC to implement the Law next year. The NPP Constituency Vice Chairman noted that the Party won the last two general elections in 2000 and 2004 without the participation of Ghanaians in the Diaspora and said, "If now the party thinks it cannot win the 2008 elections without them, then there is something wrong and the leadership should sit up". Mr Nyarko-Antwi called for more attention for the foot soldiers of the party to encourage them to work harder and said, "This is the only way to ensure that no other political party wrestled power from the NPP".

Source:GNA