While the focus has been on resisting the needless over 440 million Ghana Cedis Voters Register by the EC; another important matter that deserves equal attention is the EC's determination to implement the Representation of the People’s (Amendment) Law (ROPAL) only in countries abroad where there is a Ghanaian Embassy/High Commission. That is according to the EC's election year programme presented to Parliament last month.
If the EC is allowed to go ahead with its plans, consi…dering that Ghana has established diplomatic missions in just some 60 countries out of the about 195 UN Member countries (less than one-third), a substantial number of Ghanaians abroad will be cruelly disenfranchised. This will obviously be an affront to the recent 2017 High Court decision and indeed everything ROPAL stands for.
All Ghanaians living everywhere must have the same right to vote. The non-negotiable principle ought to be EVERYWHERE or NOWHERE if the EC believes it is ready to implement ROPAL this year.
And since the Akufo-Addo Administration appears to support every position of the Jean Mensah-led EC, they must go the full distance with their support. The EC asked for GHS1.7billion for it's activities in 2020, however, government could only manage to allocate GHS1.2billion in the 2020 Budget.
Lack of funds to implement ROPAL in every country where there's a Ghanaian would not be a plausible and acceptable justification to many Ghanaians when government is the loudest and most visible supporter of the needless new Voters Register.
Let us bear in mind that there is a direct linkage between how ROPAL will be implemented and the nature/scope of a new Voters Register. Since all eligible Ghanaians living abroad are entitled to vote under ROPAL, a new Voters Register must necessarily capture all Ghanaians across the world. Are we ready to do that? Let's think about it.
The task ahead of us is more enormous than it is being presented. God help us and may reason prevail.