I posted an article on Ghanaweb not long ago with the title: “THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION IS NEUTRAL BUT CHARLOTTE OSEI IS NOT” This was before it came to my notice that a certain Charlotte Kesson-Smith who was in 2008 aspiring to become an NDC parliamentary candidate for Evalue Gwira constituency, is in fact one and the same Mrs. Charlotte Kesson-Osei who now chairs the Electoral Commission of Ghana. At the absence of this knowledge one can still conclude that Charlotte will vote for President John Dramani Mahama in the 2016 general Elections. This is fair enough given the fact that John Mahama employed Mrs. Kesson-Osei in her current role and the least she can do to show her appreciation is to give him her vote. Beside the exchange of the mutual gestures of confidence, the rest of us expect Mrs Kesson-Osei to be fair in the discharge of her professional duties as the referee in the contest to select the new president of Ghana.
It is the doubts in the above expectation that led me to write on my Facebook wall the following words: “Charlotte may do what Charlotte is told to do by her employer and fellow party member (John Mahama). What Charlotte cannot do is to vote for everyone in Ghana. All opposition parties must come together, set up independent collating centres and work hard to prevent electoral fraud.”
Notwithstanding the doubts, I had some faith in the knowledge that our new EC chairperson will do her best to demonstrate to Ghanaians her neutrality or intention to be unbiased, knowing the public is fully aware of her NDC membership and her debt to the president for settling on her as EC chairperson. I am sad to mention that the disappointment came rather too soon. Charlotte has succeeded in giving me a dropped jaw with few of her utterances which have landed straight on my face in the last few days, reflecting her position in the matter relating to the credibility of the voters register.
The EC before the public forum (to solicit the views of stakeholders) announced they will reach a conclusion on the remedy for a credible voters register base on the recommendation of the five member panel of ‘eminent Ghanaians’. The NPP was pushing for a new register to be compiled whilst the NDC insisted the current register should rather be audited and cleanse.
I was expecting to hear one of two things from Charlotte: (a) The EC accepts the issues raised and we agree to compile a new register, or (b) The EC accepts the issues raised but we think the names of foreigners, minors, and registrations with NHIS cards will be dealt with through audit. Instead of one of the above, Charlotte out of nowhere decided to educate Ghanaians on citizenship. In addressing the nation through the forum, Charlotte proceeded to tell us the various ways through which one can become a Ghanaian citizen. She went on to state emphatically that the EC cannot delete names from the register based on claims that one is not Ghanaian. Here is what she said and I quote from www.peacefmonline.com:
“One can be identified as a Ghanaian through marriage, adoption or by birth, among others…Skin colour or accent or peculiar looks cannot be used as basis to deny a person's citizenship and therefore deny the person a right to vote”.
“If Ghanaians do not want any of the options prescribed by law by which one acquires citizenship status, we could all agree and go through proper legal process to achieve that”.
“We cannot use an emotive definition and say this one is a Ghanaian and this one is not a Ghanaian”
I do not know how anyone feels about the above statements but I feel totally confused and I am struggling to place any of them in the matter at hand. Charlotte has completely deviated from the issues raised so far. If she was writing assignment that will be zero score right there because she has decided to raise her own complains and answer them instead of answering what is brought before her.
Mrs. Charlotte Kesson-Osei must tell us where in the NPP’s petition states someone’s nose looks like a Zambian and another person’s skin colour and face look like Ethiopian, as such they should be deleted from our register?
Again, let Charlotte tell us, where in our constitution is it stated that if a foreigner marries a Ghanaian he or she automatically becomes a Ghanaian citizen?
While at it, we will also wish to know the portion of the constitution which says if a Ghanaian decides to travel to Togo, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and anywhere to adopt a child, that child automatically becomes a Ghanaian citizen.
In all of the above instances there must be paper trial demonstrating the satisfaction of certain processes ending with citizenship certificate. This is because, all of the above persons will fall under a category of Naturalization. In Ghana, there are relevant institutions responsible for such processes. The rest of us do not necessarily deal with them because we are born Ghanaians and do not need to naturalize. One cannot assume being married to a Ghanaian and living in Ghana for many years earns him the right to vote or present himself as Ghanaian.
The NPP has presented evidence showing that 76,000 individuals found on Ghana’s voters register are also registered in Togo. The request to delete those names is on the basis that these people are Togolese. Charlotte is asking for more evidence and the question is what more evidence can one produce beside the fact that these people are found on Togo’s voters register? You have to be a Togolese before you can register to vote in Togo and as such there is no question about the Togolese citizenship of these individuals.
Togo, like many French speaking countries, has proper national identification cards and their voters register is compiled using this form of identity. Unfortunately, Ghana was using various forms of ID including NHIS cards which the Supreme Court has ruled against. It is highly possible that those Togolese acquired the NHIS cards and used it to get onto the Ghana register. The NPP has proven that they are Togolese and the EC can cross-check with the Togo register to be convinced. There is no further evidence required, especially when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not have data supporting Naturalization and dual citizenship up to that figure from 1957 to date.
Charlotte is implying that those foreigners on our register might have been adopted or married to Ghanaians but unfortunately for her, the burden of proof lies with those Togolese to come and prove their Ghanaian citizenship and not the NPP. For instance, one cannot present himself to the American embassy or the British High Commission as citizen of these countries and when asked to prove it he rather turns around and ask the consulate to prove he is not. The NPP did not look into the faces of the people and concluded they look like Togolese but rather relied on a Togolese legal document which contains a list of Togolese only.
Few questions for Charlotte Osei to answer and hopefully this time she will not deviate:
1. I have heard an argument that the EC is not qualified to tell who is a Ghanaian and who is not. They only registered Ghanaian voters who presented a list of documents required for the process. If so, why does the EC refuse to delete names of people who are proven to be Togolese and insist on keeping them on the register even though the EC has no evidence to prove they are Ghanaians? (NHIS card is not acceptable proof of Ghanaian nationality and no passport issued to these people).
2. The EC told us 200,000 Ghanaians serving abroad were registered. At the Supreme Court a list of these people were requested as the NPP suspected fraud (not even USA has such number of service men and women outside America). The EC was able to produce 700 names. What happened to the 199,300 ghost Ghanaians the EC couldn’t provide and yet remain on the register?
3. Since Charlotte has stated emphatically that the alleged minors and foreigners will not be deleted and gone on to confirm that thousands of double registrations have been deleted already with the help of the parties, what exactly is she going to do next in the so called popularly prescribed auditing and cleansing exercise?
In all of these, we should be mindful of the threat to national security. It is not right to allow foreigners to infiltrate the system and select who should be president of Ghana. Charlotte Osei must put her NDC membership and relationship with John Mahama aside and take professional decisions in the interest of the nation. There are Akans in Ivory Coast and my understanding is that they form the majority of the Ivorian population. They are not Ghanaians and they should never be allowed to decide for us. This has nothing to do with Akans in Ghana or the Western region of Ghana. There is Ewe tribe in Togo, they are Togolese and they should not be allowed to pass themselves on as Ghanaians. Again, this has nothing to do with the good people of Volta region or the Ewe people of Ghana. They are our family, our brothers and sisters. We just simply have to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ghana.
Immigration is a huge concern all over the world. Our youth do not have jobs to do and graduates are forming unemployment association. Ghana is suffering to pay for the NHIS and it will be a mistake for us to issue NHIS cards to Ivorian and Togolese in such great number simply because the NDC wants to bring in foreigners to vote for them. These people will bring their children here for free education and free healthcare which will drain us. They will also join our youth in fighting for the few jobs around. We certainly are not strong enough to carry the employment, education and healthcare burdens of our neighbours. The NDC often creates the impression that NPP is against foreigners in order to get foreigners to vote for them. The 8 years under president Kufuor did not record a single incident of discrimination against foreigners in Ghana. NPP does not hate anyone, there is nothing wrong in being Patriotic. It is a NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY.
As Charlotte takes her decisions, even if she lacks professional judgment, she should be guided by a certain level of patriotism and put the interest of this country first.
Prempeh Forson
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