Protest Against Workshop On ROPAA

STATEMENT BY CONCERNED GHANAIANS PROTESTING AGAINST THE ORGANISATION OF A WORKSHOP ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE (AMENDMENT) ACT BY INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF ELECTORAL SYSTEMS (IFES) IN WASHINGTON D.C.

Concerned Ghanaians (C.G.) is an organisation comprising all the progressive political forces in Ghana that stand in opposition to the passage of the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill and its implementation.

Concerned Ghanaians have learnt with utter surprise that your organisation, the International Federation of Electoral Systems (IFES), has planned a workshop on 16th May, 2006 in Washington D. C. to discuss possible ways of implementing the new legislation which seeks to enable Ghanaians resident outside Ghana to participate in the country?s public elections. We are also reliably informed that in this endeavour you are working with the Diaspora Voting Committee (DVC).

It is important for your organisation (IFES) to note that the passage of the law was characterized by intense political acrimony and opposition by all progressive political forces in Ghana which saw the first historic indefinite boycott of Parliamentary sitting by the minority and a series of public protest demonstrations. The resultant intense political polarization of the country posed a threat to the country?s peace, security and political stability. Major stakeholders in the sustenance of multi-party constitutional democracy in Ghana, including the country?s Trade Union Congress (TUC) and all political parties, (except the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP)) were unanimous that the passage of the law had a potential for political friction and even possible conflict.

It is important to note that the entire process of enacting the law and its hasty assent by the President was a unilateral decision of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and even the Electoral Commission (E.C) which has the mandate manage electoral processes in Ghana was not consulted. After the passage of the Act the E.C. has made it very clear that it is unable to implement the new electoral arrangement in elections before the 2008 elections.

In the circumstances one is at a loss as to the source of the mandate of the IFES to organise a workshop in Washington D.C, far away from Ghana, to discuss ways of implementing a very politically divisive electoral arrangement in Ghana. That all the political forces in Ghana are not participants in this workshop raises question marks as to the real agenda of IFES and the credibility of the process. It is surprising that IFES, with its current international reputation, would create a platform for a one-sided discussion of such a controversial project.

Concerned Ghanaians wish to state emphatically that IFES has no mandate to organise a workshop in Washington D.C. to discuss implementation of the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act to the exclusion of the Ghanaian Electoral Commission and all the political stakeholders in Ghana.

We therefore call on IFES to desist from creating platforms for a one sided discussion of the implementation of ROPAA to the exclusion of the E.C. and all the other political forces in Ghana. The E.C. of Ghana is the only constitutionally mandated body to lead this process and it is unacceptable for an external organisation like IFES to disregard the sensibilities of the political forces in Ghana and meddle in sensitive national affairs upon the instigation of the Diaspora Voting Committee (DVC). The DVC is clearly unrepresentative of the Ghanaian political forces even in the Diaspora.

Signed

Honourable MAHAMA AYARIGA
Member of Parliament, Bawku Central Constituency
Ranking Member, Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament