The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority Group in Parliament has been accused of "reckless shirking of responsibility" for not participating in the nationwide debate on the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill should therefore apologise to Ghanaians.
The Chairman of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, Mr Kwame Osei-Prempeh, who said this, claimed that by boycotting such an important exercise of far-reaching consequences, the Minority has caused the much needed growth of the nation to suffer incalculable damage "on all fronts including good governance."
Addressing the Parliamentary Press Corps in response to an earlier media briefing by the Minority, which sought to rubbish the Committee's countrywide debate, Mr Osei-Prempeh stated that the Minority is confused in that "whilst the NDC is saying that they are not opposed to Ghanaians living outside voting in elections, they go ahead to make spurious arguments against Ghanaians exercising that right."
Article 42 of the Constitution, he pointed out, grants every Ghanaian of 18 years and above and of sound mid the right to register and vote in public elections and referenda, hence any law which is in conflict with the Constitution is to the extent of that inconsistency null and void.
Section 7 and 8 of PNDC Law 284, he submitted, contravenes Article 42 of the Constitution in that it takes the right of Ghanaians who do not live in any polling division away, adding "this is one provision which is quite often observed in breach than in obedience to the law."
Osei-Prempeh, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nsuta-Kwamang, contended that if the provisions of sections 7 and 8 of the PNDC Law 284 are to be adhered to strictly, then many Parliamentarians could not have registered in their constituencies let alone stand for election there. "How many MPs live in their polling divisions for more than six months prior to their registration?" he asked rhetorically.
