Ghanaians abroad should be allowed to vote-Survey

Kumasi, Oct. 22, GNA - The majority of respondents in a survey on the review of the 1992 Constitution, have endorsed the granting of voting rights in national elections to Ghanaians living or working abroad. They indicated that such an amendment would enhance the decision making process among the citizens living abroad and enhance their remittances, which is of significance to Ghana's economy.

The survey, conducted by the National Constitutional Reform Coalition, in June this year in the Ashanti, Eastern, Northern, Volta and Greater Accra regions recorded half of the respondents supporting the holding of dual citizenship by Ghanaians.

Mr Victor Brobbey, National Co-ordinator of the Coalition said the survey aimed at providing a platform for concerted, systematic, well- researched and articulated civil society input into the process of the constitutional review.

Mr Brobbey said 22 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Authority areas were randomly selected in the survey which covered about 2,000 people. The coalition, he said, used a structured data collection instrument and as a result engaged trained research assistants in administering the survey to the targeted respondents.

The co-ordinator said an overwhelming majority of the respondents were of the opinion that the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice should have the powers to conduct investigations on its own initiative.

This, they argued, would help strengthen the commission's work to ensure a prosperous nation.

Mr Brobbey noted that the survey brought to the fore a strong public support for the prohibition of chiefs in participating in partisan politics, explaining that 76 per cent of household and 92 per cent of elite respondents endorsed the debarring of chiefs from active politics. In addition, approximately half of the elite and household respondents observed that the ideal number of ministers, excluding regional and deputy ministers should not be more than 30. 22 Oct. 10