Welcome remarks by Dr. Agyenim Boateng, the Moderator of the recently concluded Congress by the USA and Canada Branch of the NPP in Washington , DC.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: When we met in Washington D.C some about six years ago for our North American NPP Congress, we were at the threshold of the coming Presidential elections to rescue Ghana from the strangle choke hold of Jerry Rawlings and his NDC thugs after 20 years of misrule. It came to pass that our dreams were fulfilled beyond our expectation when Jerry Rawlings and his band were booted out of office. Notwithstanding our expectations, there were some discordant voices among majority in diaspora who felt that we have been marginalized by the national party executives in Ghana. As we are getting ready for the NPP Congress next year to elect another party flag bearer for the 2008 general elections, do we feel the same way? Let me ask you rhetorically has the NPP government adequately addressed the issue of perceived marginalization? The jury is still out and therefore I will leave the answer to your individual judgment! .
No doubt, emerging from the debacle of Rawlings 20 year legacy of misrule and economic mayhem, NPP government under President Kufuor has achieved a lot to crow about. Harruna Attah recently cataloged these achievements thusly:*HIPIC *Repeal of criminal libel law,*NHIS * Deregulation of petroleum section* ROPAA* Whistleblowers Bill* Acceding to ARPM, *Unbridled freedom of expressions and anti government demonstrations *Free meals for school kids, *Free education to JSSS level *MCA, * School lunch program.*Peace, liberty and, etc. All these achievement took courage and leadership. A trait Pres Kufour has consistently demonstrated. This is an achievement which should not be diminished or denigrated in spite of some misgivings about the absence of well orchestrated policy towards the party members in diaspora. This is a daunting challenge to our next NPP president.
What is the way forward? As the weeks and months ebb away towards NPP Congress of '07 for selection of party's presidential flag bearer, let us a group proactively think about issues that interest us and will likely impact or garner traction in Party's coming manifesto. We must advocate for the reform of the legal or institutional framework that exclude us from playing play meaning roles in the process of shaping our country's public policies or influence their outcome.
1. With ROPAA as the law of the land; the EC is left to promulgate the necessary LI for us to vote. With no date of affectivity laid out in the Act by Parliament it is left to us to see that we participate in the 2008 general elections. Already the group I am part of, the DVC has submitted a carefully drafted regulations to EC for consideration. Let our NPP chapter endorse or submit its view to EC. As I see it, the probability of us voting in 2008 is directly correlated to the degree of pressure we exert on EC
2. What have we achieved under ROPAA if we don't have the basic rights to join our public service or Parliament or be appointed to a higher public office as a Minister or an Ambassador due to constitutional provision of Article 94 (2)? Apparently, Parliament is till shell shocked for the underlying ordeal of ROPAB orchestrated by the NDC, is in the and in no mood to bring up this issue by amending the constitution. Therefore it must be considered a high priority agenda for the next NPP administration to be included among the next legislative agenda by the next President and Parliament.
3. The President has created the Ministry for Tourism and Diasporan Relations. Up until now, the current Minister Jake Obetsebi Lamptey has not articulated any policy or mapped out programs concerning Ghanaian diasporans. All what we hear or read from media accounts is his primary interest in looking out for Black American and Afro Caribbean diasporans to come home as tourists, the so called "Joseph Project". Ghanaian diasporans are, of course, essential elements in the diasporan equations and the Minister has to accept such facts. For instance, if he bases the expected cash inflows from all non-- Ghanaian diasporas( tourists) vis a vis Ghanaians, as the measure who diasporan is, the scale tilts considerably heavily towards diasporan Ghanaians who send over 3.5 billion dollars as against 700 million from non Ghanaian diasporas annually
3. Significantly, all international treaties and conventions under UN and AU, which Ghana is a signatory, emphasize on the need of governments to grant free franchise and make all efforts to tap on the human resources both material and talents of its overseas citizens to help in development. The challenge of globalization demands that all nations incorporate energies and talents of its diasporans into a viable legal, policy and institutional framework for social and economic development. The President and political leaders always talk about man power development and capacity building. Don't you think by denying us equal access or participation in the system the policy makers are short changing themselves and denying the country well developed human resources, skills and talents?
Why don't you let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs take care of diasporan issues, one may ask? Because, it is already burdened with promoting intergovernmental relations and economic diplomacy as well as handling NEPAD protocols, and therefore, cannot adequately cope with the nuances involved in Diasporan affairs or relations. Thus, we must either call for expansion of Jake's ministry to include the interest of Ghanaians or alternatively, create separate and specific Ministry for Diasporan Affairs.(MDA) This will be inline with experiences of other countries such as India, Mexico, Italy, Israel and Egypt which have created such ministries to harness the talents and resources of their overseas resident citizens.
The adoption of foregoing by our next President would remedy the past discriminatory and patronizing attitude the party has shown us. The conventional approach is to write lengthy and learned position papers and discourse to authorities in Ghana hoping they would read and react. Not so. As an example, a paper I submitted on crucial policy matters to a friend who is now a Minister to pass it on to the sector Minister at the President's office. After perusing it for a minute his only comment was "I see a typo at page there line 4"... End of my learned position paper.
I believe that after the experiences of three elections in which we have been sidelined , we have reached north of our learning curve with our political interactions with our political leaders. Let's show that we this time mean business in our desire to be included in the political process instead helping to elect candidates who pay us token respect as soon as they get into office..
Next four years is going to be decisive to stop our marginalization or stop our outside looking in syndrome. Let us incorporate our demands in morally binding legal contract between us and all presidential aspirants for them to implement if they are elected as the party's flag bearer and eventually win the Presidency.
No doubt, the election is going to be fought over such public policy issues such as corruption, illegal drugs, poverty, health care, unemployment good roads and good drinking water, among others. But how can we positively help to address these issues if we are excluded from joining the policy makers who must address such serious national issues!
These are some of the issues I want you to carefully consider in our deliberations at this conference . I am happy to be among you today and let's have a good Congress!!
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