Dual Citizenship will enhance ROPAA implementation

Political pg (lead), Wednesday April 9, 2008

Story: Charles Benoni Okine, Back from USA

SOME Ghanaians living in the United States of America (USA) have said that the passage of the Dual Citizenship Bill by Parliament can enhance transparency in the implementation of the Representation of the People’s Amendment Act (ROPAA).
According to them, if Ghanaians in the Diaspora were granted dual citizenship status, it would be easier for the Electoral Commission (EC) to cross-check their true identities with the authorities of the countries in which they resided.
The Ghanaians, who were speaking in separate interviews when the Daily Graphic sought their views on the inability of the EC to implement ROPAA this election year, said much as they did not feel too disappointed about the inability of the EC to implement ROPAA, the concerns raised over the verification of the true identifies of Ghanaians living abroad during voting could be better solved when the issue of dual citizenship was finalised.
The ROPAA was passed by Parliament last year to make it possible for Ghanaians living abroad to vote in their respective countries of abode in general election organised by the EC.
However, this will not be possible on December 7, this year because, according to the EC, no arrangement had yet been made to open the voters register for Ghanaians outside the country to register and cast their ballots there.
Mr Prince Obeng, who presently resides at Worcester in the State of Massachusetts, indicated, for instance, that “once our names have been captured in the database of the US, there is no way the right number of people who vote can be bloated”.
He said the US had an effective system of monitoring such names and indicated that the government of Ghana could only liaise with the US to assist in getting the right number of Ghanaians who had voted.
Mr Obeng was of the view that the process could be replicated in both developed and under-developed countries where Ghanaians lived.
“Ghanaians living in the Diaspora need to be part of the electoral process back home but they are being denied this because of the high level of mistrust among the various political parties,” he said.
He said Ghanaians in the Diaspora were being made to bear the brunt of the absolute lack of trust and described the phenomenon as most unfortunate.
He said while Ghana looked to other countries such as the US to enhance its development process, there was the need for Ghanaian politicians to learn to trust one another and eschew all manner of mistrust which went a long way to undermine the integrity of Ghanaians and the government.
Mr Erasmus Acquah, an engineer working with one of the leading civil engineering firms in Worcester, could not hide his disappointment at the inability of the government to ensure the implementation of ROPAA.
“I feel disappointed because we contribute to the growth of the economy through our remittances and, therefore, we should have a say in the selection of who governs Ghana,” he added.
Mr Acquah also supported the suggestion that the Dual Citizenship Bill, when passed, could help with easy identification.
He, however, took a swipe at journalists who, he claimed, were not favourable to the implementation of ROPAA.
According to him, not much was being done to get the government to provide the necessary support and logistics to get the EC to implement ROPAA.
He said the implementation of the law should not be about cost to the nation because “voting is a right and not a privilege”.
From New York, Mr Bright Ninsey, a hotel supervisor, wondered why the government had delayed with the passage of the Dual Citizenship Act and noted that it was not the best for Ghanaians living in the Diaspora.
He said the dual citizenship status of Ghanaians living abroad could help the government to track its citizens and also give a fair idea about how many Ghanaians were living outside the country, as far as the implementation of ROPAA was concerned.
Mr Pina Quartey, a factory worker at the Bronx, one of the popular provinces of the New York State, said, “We want to vote and we must be given that recognition as Ghanaians and not Americans.”
“This government, we know, is very action-oriented but it is disappointing because it has played down our request to grant us dual citizenship status,” he said.
Mr Daniel Numah of Atlanta, for his part, was not too keen on the passage of ROPAA but was of the view that the Dual Citizenship Bill needed to be passed for Ghanaians to play a role in issues of national concern.
He shared the view that the bill, when passed, could help give the EC the correct number of people who might vote at a time because the US system could help with the identification.
Mr Kwaku Asiamah, formerly of the US Navy in Virginia, said, “I have sent plenty money back home and anytime the economy is bad in Ghana, I am told to send more.”
He was of the view that should he have a say in who governed the country by being allowed to cast his vote, he would vote for those who were capable of managing the economy better to reduce the pressure on him back in the US.
Mr Asiamah said if Ghanaians had any issues of vote rigging, the Dual Citizenship Bill, when passed, could help and urged the government to demonstrate its commitment to its promise to see that bill through for use in subsequent elections as far as the implementation of ROPAA was concerned.
A source at the EC told the Daily Graphic that although the commission had received some funds to do some preliminary work on the implementation of ROPAA, the team that went on the trip to ascertain the possibility of implementing the law this year had not yet presented its report.