Identifying a Ghanaian citizen – foundation for credible voter register

Ghana attained independence on 6th March 1957 with the first constitution serving as the originator of Ghanaian citizenship. Subsequent constitutions did not invalidate the definition as given in the 1957 constitution. The Citizenship Act 2000 restated a definition of who a Ghanaian citizen is in accordance with the various constitutions - 1957, 1969, 1979 and 1992.

THE ORIGIN OF GHANAIAN CITIZENSHIP -

(1) A person born on or after 6 March 1957 and before 22 August 1969 is a citizen of Ghana by birth if—

a) He/She was born in or outside Ghana and either of his/her parents, and also one at least of his/her grandparents or great-grandparents, was born in Ghana; or

b) In the case of a person born in Ghana neither of whose parents was born in Ghana, at least one of his/her grandparents was born in Ghana.

I am not an expert in constitutional matters but I will attempt to explain the above.

The above Act appears to mean the following: If before or after 1957 you were born in Ghana but none of your grandparents was born in Ghana, you are not a citizen of Ghana by birth. However, third generation immigrants born before or after the 1957 constitution but before 1969 may qualify to become Ghanaian citizens by virtue of the fact that their parents were born in Ghana. This will depend on the interpretation of the wording “either of his/her parents, and also one at least of his/her grandparents”. The (b) above suggests that Ghanaian citizenship originates from a person’s grandparents having been born in Ghana at the time of independence or before 1969. That being the case, it is only the fourth generation immigrants who will automatically become citizens of Ghana provided one of the grandparents, at least, was born in Ghana before 1969.

The above explanation might have served to confuse some of you even further. No sweat, I will make it simple, short and sweet.

IF YOU ARE OF FOREIGN ORIGIN (someone who doesn’t belong to Akan, Mole- Dagbane, Ewe, Ga-Adangbe and Guan with family roots and origin to any place within the borders of Ghana) AND NONE OF YOUR GRANDPARENTS WAS BORN IN GHANA BEFORE 1969, YOU ARE NOT A GHANAIAN CITIZEN. Consider this scenario; I am Hausa with origin from Nigeria or Mali, I am born in Ghana but my parents were not born in Ghana, if any of my grandparents was born in Ghana before 1969 I am a citizen of Ghana by birth.

A successful claim under the above law can only be made with verifiable legal documents and that’s where the trouble lies. Over the years, we have failed completely in record keeping both as a nation and as individuals. For instance, I obtained my driving licence in the year 2002 and lost it in 2012. The last time I approached the DVLA for a replacement I was told without the Licence number it could not be retrieved, notwithstanding the fact that our data is supposedly computerized and I am arguably the only Prempeh Forson there is in the system or even in the world.

In the face of the above difficulty, it may be near impossible to challenge the citizenship of anyone who claims to be a Ghanaian. It is laughable looking at the documents often listed as proof of one’s Ghanaian citizenship.

1. DRIVING LICENCE – The DVLA has no authority and certainly no means of verifying citizenship. They accept the information presented to them on the licence application form without any proof.

2. NHIA ID – The weakness of this card as proof of citizenship is obvious and needs no explanation.

3. PASSPORT – From my experience, and many of you will attest to it, all that one needs is a birth certificate which happens to be one of the most unreliable pieces of documents in Ghana. Anyone can walk in and obtain a birth certificate. In any case, being genuinely born in Ghana does not necessarily qualify one to become a citizen by birth as clearly stated above.

Now, the question is: Where do we start from? I hold the view that the definition of Ghanaian citizenship as stated by the constitution presently is flawed due to the absence of proper and reliable register of Citizens from 1957 to date. We can begin to compile a new citizenship register but this would not be possible without first expanding the definition of Ghanaian citizenship.

My suggestion is, the National Identification Authority must lay before parliament for approval an identification process which requires every Ghanaian to register by Place of Origin. This is identification through ethnic background and origin. All of us, with the exception of Naturalized Ghanaians, belong to tribes, we have home towns or places of origin with family homes. I for example come from Kumawu and certainly have huge extended family still present in Kumawu. It is not possible for a stranger to walk to Kumawu and claim to hail from the town – few questions will betray him or her instantly.

This approach has nothing to do with tribalism, on the contrary it will help us to embrace who we are, for every Ghanaian should be proud of his or her tribe while remembering at all times that we remain one nation. We all take pride in great things and even great people who rose out of our areas to lead in national affairs. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah came from Nkroful in the Western Region to lead us into independence and became our first president, the most celebrated of them all. We have had Mr. Rawlings from the Volta Region who rule Ghana for 19 years continuously – the longest ruler ever and the longest we may ever have. We have Prof. Evans Fiifi Atta Mills, a Fanti from Central Region. We have had Kutu Acheampong and John Agyekum Kufuor both Ashantis who have rule Ghana. There was Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia from the Brong Ahanfo Region. We have had Dr Liman and presently Mr. John Mahama who are both from the Northern Ghana. Private successful men and women are numerous to list here. Together we are all Ghanaians. We take pride in our origins and collective achievements (although we have achieved very little so far as a nation). Our culture is derived from our places of origin and blended to give the whole Ghanaian identity.

Indeed, this approach should not be politicized and propagandized if we truly want to do what is right and give our nation a near accurate citizenship register. One may argue that it will be too much to ask people to travel to their home towns to identify themselves and register the Caesar Augustus way. I will disagree on the basis that we travel to attend funerals all the time, and we again travel to Kwahu for Easter every year. If America or the British government is to open an office in Paga in the Northern Ghana and ask everyone to travel there to obtain a nationality the rest of Ghana will be empty. All of us will be heading to Paga, and in fact some may even walk there. Likewise if we are proud of our citizenship, if it means anything to us, we will travel to register. Anyone who refuses to go and register simply becomes stateless and an illegal resident in Ghana.

In order to make the process easy, people who are able to travel to their hometowns to register may not have to carry their Children along. If parents are successfully identified and registered then automatically the children are Ghanaians and can be registered by the parents at wherever they reside.

The second group consist of Hausa and other immigrants who neither belong to any of our ethnic groups nor originate from any parts of Ghana. They are not great in number and a special dispensation can be applied. Our Hausa brothers and sisters who are descendants of a generation that has lived in Ghana before and after independence will be registered as Ghanaians if they were born in Ghana. The register at this point will be locked and open only to newly born Ghanaians and naturalized Ghanaians.

This is my suggestion. This is how I will approach and tackle our citizenship registration. Tell me if you subscribe to my approach and if not, how would you do it?

Prempeh Forson