GLAs and Ghana’s Constitutional Review Commission- We are here

. By Kofi A. Boateng New York January 18, 2010

GLAsNetwork, a non-partisan virtual entity that exists solely to promote the legal rights of Ghanaians Living Abroad, congratulates the Government of President John Atta-Mills on the recent appointment of the Constitutional Review Commission. Most Ghanaians would agree that this is long overdue but better late than never. GLAsNetwork does not presume to be the experts to take on rewriting the entire Constitution of the Republic of Ghana. We concern ourselves with one primary objective- the proper definition of a Citizen of Ghana. When this is properly done, other related items shall fall into place such as no restrictions on dual citizenships of Ghanaians by birth and implementation of the Representation of the People’s Amendment Act (ROPAA). To paraphrase Dr. Kwame Nkrumah: we seek first the proper definition of Ghanaian by birth and all other things shall be added unto GLAs.

We have written several articles on how the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana does a poor job in differentiating among citizens by birth, by registration and by naturalization. The same lack of clarity was carried over to the Citizenship Act 2000. As a result restrictions such as contesting for a Member of Parliament and holding some sensitive positions that may be argued to be relevant to all of dual citizenship except those by birth are applied to all classes of dual citizenship, Ghanaians by birth included. A recent case in point was when Dr. Samuel Amoako, a naturalized US citizen and a Ghanaian by birth was forced to renounce his US citizenship to comply with Article 94 (2) (a) of the constitution. However, later, when a similar case surfaced in the matter of Dr. Vanderpuije, the current Mayor of Accra who holds a dual citizenship, a loud argument was made that he is a Ghanaian by birth and should be left alone to assume his appointment even though Article 94 (2) (a) was and still is on the books. Justice cannot be left to who hates whom (Amoako); and who shouts for whom (Vanderpuije). The lesson is that there is clearly a need for an amendment of the odious Article 94 (2) (a) to operate like in the case of Vanderpuije without any scent of arbitrary and whimsical interpretation and enforcement of a nation’s constitution.

We urge the Constitutional Review Commission to take a close look at the Constitutions of the Republics of Nigeria and Cape Verde on this matter. Nigeria’s constitution makes clear differentiations of the various classes of citizenship that avoids ambiguity and unintended injuries as Ghana’s Constitution does. Would it be asking too much to include at least one Ghanaian Living Abroad on the Constitutional Review Commission? Let us not forget that GLAs continue to play a vital role in the economic growth of Ghana. When remittances dipped in 2009 as a result of the global economic crises, Ghana Government’s budget suffered as well and the President acknowledged as much. But for the risks and efforts of two GLAs, the discovery of oil in Ghana would not have been. We are here. We are part of Ghana. Do not forget us.

Kofib@optonline.org