[ 2019-03-16 ]

Let’s not rush ROPAA implementation – Ablakwa tells stakeholders
Member of Parliament for North Tongu Constituency
has suggested that the implementation of the
Representation of People Amendment Act (ROPAA)
should not be rushed until all challenges are
cleared and stakeholders assured of credible
elections abroad.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa’s fear is that, the
democracy, peace and stability of Ghana are at
stake if ROPAA is not deeply thought through and
all hurdles removed before it is piloted as
disputed elections have been the bane of
conflicts.

According to him, his party, the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) is against pressures
being mounted on the Electoral Commission (EC) to
pilot ROPAA in 2020 in the face of the several
challenges.

Speaking at a roundtable meeting organised by the
Centre for Democracy (CSD-Ghana) and the Friedrich
Ebert Stiftung, to generate discussion on the
implementation of the ROPAA 2006, (Act 699), Mr.
Ablakwa stressed that the NDC wants all eligible
Ghanaian voters in every part of the world to be
able to exercise their franchise.

This means that, instead of conducting ROPAA in
just 64 countries with Ghana embassies, it should
be piloted in all 193 countries recognised by the
United Nations, therefore, the need for
stakeholders’ consultation to agree on a
feasible approach to the implementation of ROPAA.

“ROPAA must be everywhere and this is the
stance of the NDC. Let’s implement it
fully. If we’re doing this, let’s do
it once and for all. I don’t think Ghana is
ready for ROPAA in 2020. The EC is asking for more
time and still embarking on stakeholder
consultation,” he said.

The Ranking Member of Parliament’s Foreign
Affairs Committee said the cost involved in
conducting elections is a major challenge which
must be first addressed before ROPAA is
operationalised.

“How is this going to impact our finances as
a country? Do we have the means to able to foot
bills? Remember that already there are some
elections that as much as 60 per cent of the bills
come from international donors. Even with the
current limited scope we’re not about to
fund it entirely and yet we’re expecting to
expand the scope beyond the borders of Ghana and
beyond Section 8 of the PNDC Law 284,” he
said.

Mr. Ablakwa raised concerns over plans to delegate
the role of the EC to Ghanaian Missions abroad who
are political appointees and stressed that, that
could undermine the credibility of Diaspora
elections.

“It’s improper to want to set the
role of the EC and give that role to embassies.
Article 45 of the Constitution is very clear on
the functions of the EC and that matters to do
with preparing people to vote are functions of the
EC only. So how do embassies come in?… The
use of embassies will even defeat the
purpose,” he argued.

“Why should political parties have
confidence in a process that embassies are being
proposed to be in the lead? If the NPP was in
opposition and the NDC was in power, will they
accept that? Currently one of the issue is the
number of appointees we have as ambassadors.
Career diplomats are not too happy because of the
ratio. There are tensions,” the legislator
asserted.

Source - awakenewsonline

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