The Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has expressed doubts whether the Electoral Commission (EC) is prepared to make Ghanaians abroad vote in 2020.
He cast doubts on the commission’s ability to operationalise the Representation of Peoples Amendment Act (ROPAA), for the 2020 general election.
His comments followed a ruling by an Accra high court that ordered the EC to implement the law which was passed over a decade ago to enable Ghanaians abroad to vote and since 2006, the commission has not implemented the law, giving several excuses including lack of resources.
However, the court in 2017 gave a 12-month deadline to the EC to lay the Constitutional Instrument (CI) before Parliament to operationalise the Act but it missed the deadline and lawyers for the plaintiffs in the case urged the court to hold the commissioners liable for contempt.
Speaking on the ROPAA, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Suame in the Ashanti Region, questioned the competence of the court to order the EC insisting that “the EC is an independent state body and cannot be ordered by another institution.
“Could a court order the EC to operationalise the law within a certain timeframe against a clear constitutional provision which provides that in the performance of its functions, the EC should not be subject to the direction of any person or authority?, I have my doubts,” he noted.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has, however, beenkicking against piloting the ROPAA in 2020. He expressed opposition to Ghana’s diplomatic missions abroad leading the registration and electoral process.
“In my honest view, I think Ghana is not ready for ROPAA implementation in 2020 elections,” Okudzeto Ablakwa, Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs said.
Meanwhile, the EC has been touring the country to collate views on how to implement the ROPAA. –myjoyonline.com