Ghanaians Abroad Vote: Opposition Parties Against

Six parties demand the withdrawal of Representative of people's Bill
Accra, March 11, GNA - Six Minority Political Parties on Wednesday called for a national resistance movement against the "the Representation of the people (Amendment) Bill," laid before Parliament on March 9th, and expected to be approved on March 12, 2004. The Bill laid under a Certificate of Urgency, sought to enable Ghanaians, who reside abroad to register and vote in public elections in the country.

The parties explained at a joint press conference in Accra that, "the proposed amendment is to fit into a grand design calculated to give the ruling New Patriotic party (NPP) an unfair electoral advantage and frustrate the true expression of the will of the Ghanaian people in the December 2004 elections".

They therefore, called for the immediate withdrawal of the Bill to give the Electoral Commission, political parties, and other stakeholders time to do sufficient consultations and preparation, so as to make the exercise all embracing, fair and transparent for future elections The parties are National Democratic Congress (NDC), the People's National Congress (PNC), the Convention People's Party (CPP), the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), the National Reform Party (NRP) and the EGLE.

A statement read on behalf of the group by Mr Dan Lartey GCPP Leader, explained that the parties in principle did not oppose the principles of enfranchising Ghanaians who were resident abroad. Indeed, "we would like to see the Electoral Commission (EC) properly empowered and resourced to make this possible. However, we believe that the introduction of the Bill at this time was inopportune."

The parties said EC lacked the capacity to undertake a wholesale registration of Ghanaians resident abroad at this time, adding, "as a matter of fact, due to lack of resources, the registration of Ghanaians at home for elections is already fraught with enormous difficulty".

The Six parties also noted that piloting the Bill under a Certificate of Urgency short-circuited parliamentary procedure and denied the opportunity for public discussions and full deliberation by parliament, including taking on board the concerns of civil society organisations and other stakeholders.

The minority parties questioned the agenda of NPP and explained that the parties had noted with great consternation a pattern of action by the NPP Administration that imperil the environment for free, fair and credible elections in the country.

"We would be abandoning our patriotic duty to Ghanaians if we did not alert them to this clear and present danger posed by the conduct of the NPP".

The joint conference was attended by Professor John Atta Mills, Presidential Candidate of the NDC, Dr Edward Mahama, PNC Leader, Mr Dan Lartey, GCPP Presidential Candidate, Mr Johnny Hansen, CPP National Vice Chairman and Mr. Danny Ofori Atta, Chairman of the Council of Elders of EGLE.

The rest were, Dr Nii Josiah Aryeh General Secretary of NDC, Mr Gabriel Pwamang, General Secretary of PNC, Professor Nii Noi Dowuona, General Secretary of CPP, Mr Kyeretwie Opoku, General Secretary of the NRP, Mr John Amekah, General Secretary of the GCPP, Alhaji Al-Hassan Bene, General Secretary of the EGLE and other leading members of the parties.