ROPAA Quietly In Force

DAYBREAK investigations reveal that unless the Electoral Commission comes out publicly on the contrary, ROPAA, the controversial voting bill that has passed Executive assent, will be used in the forthcoming Presidential and parliamentary elections.

Already, the EC has admitted that it is registering a section of the Ghanaian community living outside, particularly students on Ghanaian scholarships. Strangely the registration exercises are conducted on Sundays, giving indications that ROPAA may silently be going on – without polling agents as is the requirement.

Again, there are no indications that the voters register is on display as required by the EC laws in the ongoing exercise. This is also in spite of the fact that the EC’s own ROPAA Report says “copies of the Provisional Voters Register should be exhibited at the centres where registration was done…in addition to exhibiting the voters registers abroad, copies of the registers must be exhibited in the constituencies within which the local residential addresses of the applicants fall.”

That the EC may apply ROPAA is based on the fact that it, together with the leadership of the various political parties, have as far back as September 2011, appended their signatures to a document agreeing on a framework. The document was signed by Bernard Monah of the People’s National Convention, Dan Botwe of the New Patriotic Party and Ward-Brew of the Democratic People’s Party.

Alhaji Huudu Yahaya of the National Democratic Congress also initialed for the ruling party, whilst K. Sarfo-Katanka, E. Aggrey Fynn and Owusu Parry signed for the EC, with Dr. Kwesi Jonah signing as a Member of the Committee that struck the deal in the spirit of EC-inter-party health.

According to the document, ROPAA should “for the time being” apply to only Presidential elections and referenda, in view of the various challenges facing a smooth and fair implementation. The challenges, according to the document include identification of genuine Ghanaians living outside who possess resident permits, population distribution in areas where Ghana has embassies or missions and of course funding.

The EC document, titled REPORT ON THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON ROPAA AND POLITICAL PARTIES ACT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE (AMENDMENT) ACT, ROPAA, has as requirements for registration and voting “a Ghanaian passport, a valid resident permit and proof of dual citizenship (for those who claim to hold dual nationality).”

On authenticity of resident permit, the document states that “since the registration officials may not be able to determine authenticity of a resident permit the Committee [or signatories] recommends that the Commission contacts the appropriate authorities in countries where registration will take place to provide the Commission with the list of Ghanaians who have been granted resident permits.”

According to the document, “in view of the enormity of the task involved in registration of voters, the Committee proposes that: the registration of voters in Ghana and abroad should take place at different times…The Commission should determine the period of registration of voters in Ghana and abroad” and finally that “online registration should not be allowed.”