Implementation of ROPAA will strengthen Ghana’s democracy – CODEO
The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has said the judgement of the Human Rights Court which called for the implementation of Representation of the People Amendment Act (ROPAA) will enlivens Ghana’s democracy.
Speaking to otecfmghana.com on Monday, December 18, 2017, after the court ruling, the National Coordinator of CODEO Mr. Albert Kofi Arhin observed that granting Ghanaians in the Diaspora opportunity to vote is in the right direction because many countries have successfully done it and Ghana too can do it.
On December 18, this year, the Human Rights Court (High Court Division) gave the Electoral Commission (EC) 12 months to implement the Representation of the People Amendment Act (ROPAA).
ROPAA gives all Ghanaians living abroad the right to register and vote.
Since the passage of the ROPAA bill into law (Act 699) eligible citizens living abroad have the right to register and vote in Ghana’s elections.
The judgement also brings to rest the over eleven-year hustle of implementing the ROPAA law since it was enacted in 2006. Ghanaians working at embassies and state institutions were only allowed to vote thereby disenfranchising other citizens working abroad.
According to the trial judge the EC has 30 days within which to notify the court in the event of the EC’s inability to comply with the orders, adding that “the EC shall state its reasons for its inability to comply with the order”.
The court noted that the EC had failed to justify reasons over the delay in implementing the ROPAA law, Act 699, adding that the non-compliance of Act 699 constituted a breach of fundamental human rights under Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution.
According to Mr. Arhin, the judgment indicated that beginning 2020, Ghanaians living abroad would vote in Ghana’s elections.
“We have crossed advocacy, passed legislation, traversed litigation and have arrived at the doorstep of implementation. With the force of the court, ROPAA has arrived,” he told newsmen after the verdict.
Successive governments over the years failed to implement it, prompting the applicants: Kofi A. Boateng, Nellie Kemevor, Obed Danquah, Christiana Sillim and Agyenim Boateng, all residing in the USA, to went to court over the matter.
The court presided by His Lordship Justice Anthony K. Yeboah delivered a judgment on Monday, 18 December directing that EC to implement the law.
Mr. Arhin, therefore, appealed to the Electoral Commission (EC) to implement the court’s order swiftly to avoid any breach of the law.
Mr. Albert Kofi Arhin asked the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana should prepare a Constitutional Instrument (LI) to back ROPAA for its effectiveness.
Source: otecfmghana.com/ Kwaku Anane Jnr
