Features
National Identification Card – Cause of Political tension
The country finds itself now in a place where there is tension and people are worried that there could be chaos between now and December as we prepare for the elections. This is not a prediction of doom but a proper assessment of the political scene prevailing in the country. This situation could have been easily avoided if previous administrations had prioritised the provision of a National Identification Card and done their job as expected. The current tension in the country has to do with the voters’ register, which is a prerequisite for the elections in December, both parliamentary and presidential. In order to qualify as a voter, a voter’s name must be on the voters’ register and so for any political party to do well in the elections, its supporters’ names must appear on the voters’ register which is compiled by the Electoral Commission (EC).
The only institution mandated by the 1992 Constitution to conduct elections in this country is the Electoral Commission (EC). EC has declared its intention to carry out a registration process that would lead to a new voters’ register. This has led to a section of the players in the political arena mainly led by the largest opposition party the NDC, vehemently opposing the EC in its intention to compile a new voters’ register. A couple of demonstrations had already been staged across the country by a group led by some leading members of the NDC and some smaller parties to communicate their displeasure to the general public about the intended actions of the EC. Some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have also voiced their opposition to the compilation of a new voters’ register claiming that the current register is credible and must be used for the December elections, but the EC disagrees in no uncertain terms.
Issues that those opposed to the compilation of a new voters’ register include the assertion that the current register is credible, that it would cost a lot of money to compile a new register, that the time left for such an exercise to compile a new voters register is too short and it has the potential to plunge the country into chaos. The EC on the other hand has also claimed among others that the compilation of a new voters’ register was initiated by the previous management and produced documents to that effect. It further produced a letter from the old vendor of the elections management system which stated that most of the equipment had reached their end of life and have become obsolete.
There has been a history of disagreements by various political parties and the EC since 1992. This has led to the creation of an Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) to resolve any disagreements and to provide a consultative forum, so parties and various stakeholders’ views could be taken on board by the EC in major decision making and implementation. There seems to be bad blood or call it mistrust between the current leadership of the EC and the opposition NDC right from the first IPAC meeting initiated by the current EC boss, Madam Jean Mensa.
The EC did not help matters in deepening the mistrust by pronouncements of one of its commissioners to the effect that the NDC was a threat to Ghana’s democracy and also the issuance of invitations to the various stakeholders to attend the latest IPAC meeting which was to take place on May 25, this year. A mistake was made in the date stated on the invitation letter. When the EC realised that instead of 2020, the year was stated as 2010 according to an interview granted by Asempa FM to the National Communications Officer of the NDC, on the May 25, 2020 meeting. The EC then sent a second letter to the NDC, telling them to disregard the previous letter since it contained some errors, and to take note of the second letter. Then the comedy of errors began. The second letter for some reason that only the EC can explain, had the date corrected alright but the time for the meeting was then changed from 10am to 10 pm. The NDC then latched on to the second letter and claimed that they did not attend the meeting because the second letter stated 10 pm only for them to hear that the meeting had taken place at 10am that morning. The NDC further stated that the current EC was incompetent if they could bungle a simple invitation letter like this and you cannot begrudge them; if you give ammunition to your opponents, they would be used against you. The other parties attended the meeting based on the second letter which also was the same as that sent to the NDC because they sought clarification from the EC and realised that the time of 10pm in the second letter, was a mistake.
A careful examination of the positions of the EC on one hand and those opposed to the compilation of a new voters’ register tilt the debate in favour of the EC. Those opposed to the EC, particularly the NDC started with the position that there was no need for a new voters’ register since we had used the current register to conduct the recent referendum on whether DCEs must be elected and that it was credible. The EC came out with information from the previous management as far back as 2015 to the effect that there was the need to revise the system and, therefore, the current voters’ register. According to ghanaweb.com of May 18, 2020 the use of National Identification Authority (NIA) card had been a requirement since 2012, so the claim by the NDC that making the NIA card a requirement under the current CI is an attempt by the EC to cheat for the NPP, falls flat. Again, the EC had admitted that it had not been able to completely delete the names of those who had used National Health Insurance cards from the register as ordered by the Supreme Court and, therefore, to allow the use of the current voter ID cards as one of the required identification documents, would create legal problems for the commission.
The constitution has cast in stone, the date of December 7, in every election year, so there is no option for the EC but to conduct elections for both the presidential and parliamentary, on that day come rain or shine. Given this situation, the EC has taken the firm stance that it would compile a new voters’ register. In relation to the independence of the Electoral Commission, there is no argument about it since the flag bearer of the NDC, Former President John Dramani Mahama, has made a statement alluding to that fact. The NPP and the current President have also no problem with that fact, so the way forward is for all sides to accept the fact that a new voters’ register would be compiled and support the EC to carry out its constitutional mandate and not spew out unsubstantiated claims.
What needs to be done going forward, is to ensure that the NIA registers every Ghanaian so that there would be a database for all Ghanaians. The EC can then extract all those who are above 18 and compile a voters’ register which would be acceptable to all stakeholders because it is compiled from a credible source.
Laud Kissi-Mensah
Features
Tears of Ghanaman, home and abroad
The typical native of Sikaman is by nature a hospitable creature, a social animal with a big heart, a soul full of the milk of earthly goodness, and a spirit too loving for its own comfort.
Ghanaman hosts a foreign pal and he spends a fortune to make him very happy and comfortable-good food, clean booze, excellent accommodation and a woman for the night.
Sometimes the pal leaves without saying a “thank you but Ghanaman is not offended. He’d host another idiot even more splendidly. His nature is warm, his spirit benevolent. That is the typical Ghanaian and no wonder that many African-Americans say, “If you haven’t visited Ghana. Then you’ve not come to Africa.
You can even enter the country without a passport and a visa and you’ll be welcomed with a pot of palm wine.
If Ghanaman wants to go abroad, especially to an European country or the United States, it is often after an ordeal.
He has to doze in a queue at dawn at the embassy for days and if he is lucky to get through to being interviewed, he is confronted by someone who claims he or she has the power of discerning truth from lie.
In short Ghanaman must undergo a lie-detector test and has to answer questions that are either nonsensical or have no relevance to the trip at hand. When Joseph Kwame Korkorti wanted a visa to an European country, the attache studied Korkorti’s nose for a while and pronounced judgment.
“The way I see you, you won’t return to Ghana if I allow you to go. Korkorti nearly dislocated her jaw; Kwasiasem akwaakwa. In any case what had Korkorti’s nose got to do with the trip?
If Ghanaman, after several attempts, manages to get the visa and lands in the whiteman’s land, he is seen as another monkey uptown, a new arrival of a degenerate ape coming to invade civilized society. He is sneered at, mocked at and avoided like a plague. Some landlords abroad will not hire their rooms to blacks because they feel their presence in itself is bad business.
When a Sikaman publisher landed overseas and was riding in a public bus, an urchin who had the impudence and notoriety of a dead cockroach told his colleagues he was sure the black man had a tail which he was hiding in his pair of trousers. He didn’t end there. He said he was in fact going to pull out the tail for everyone to see.
True to his word he went and put his hand into the backside of the bewildered publisher, intent on grabbing his imaginary tail and pulling it out. It took a lot of patience on the part of the publisher to avert murder. He practically pinned the white miscreant on the floor by the neck and only let go when others intervene. Next time too…
The way we treat our foreign guests in comparison with the way they treat us is polar contrasting-two disparate extremes, one totally incomparable to the other. They hound us for immigration papers, deport us for overstaying and skinheads either target homes to perpetrate mayhem or attack black immigrants to gratify their racial madness
When these same people come here we accept them even more hospitably than our own kin. They enter without visas, overstay, impregnate our women and run away.
About half of foreigners in this country do not have valid resident permits and was not a bother until recently when fire was put under the buttocks of the Immigration Service
In fact, until recently I never knew Sikaman had an Immigration Service. The problem is that although their staff look resplendent in their green outfit, you never really see them anywhere. You’d think they are hidden from the public eye.
The first time I saw a group of them walking somewhere, I nearly mistook them for some sixth-form going to the library. Their ladies are pretty though.
So after all, Sikaman has an Immigration Service which I hear is now alert 24 hours a day tracking down illegal aliens and making sure they bound the exit via Kotoka International. A pat on their shoulder.
I am glad the Interior Ministry has also realised that the country has been too slack about who goes out or comes into Sikaman.
Now the Ministry has warned foreigners not to take the country’s commitment to its obligations under the various conditions as a sign of weakness or a source for the abuse of her hospitality.
“Ghana will not tolerate any such abuse,” Nii Okaija Adamafio, the Interior Minister said, baring his teeth and twitching his little moustache. He was inaugurating the Ghana Refugee and Immigration Service Boards.
He said some foreigners come in as tourists, investors, consultants, skilled workers or refugees. Others come as ‘charlatans, adventurers or plain criminals. “
Yes, there are many criminals among them. Our courts have tried a good number of them for fraud and misconduct.
It is time we welcome only those who would come and invest or tour and go back peacefully and not those whose criminal intentions are well-hidden but get exposed in due course of time.
This article was first published on Saturday March 14, 1998
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Features
Decisions have consequences
In this world, it is always important to recognise that every action or decision taken, has consequences.
It can result in something good or bad, depending on the quality of the decision, that is, the factors that were taken into account in the decision making.
The problem with a bad decision is that, in some instances, there is no opportunity to correct the result even though you have regretted the decision, which resulted in the unpleasant outcome.
This is what a friend of mine refers to as having regretted an unregretable regret. After church last Sunday, I was watching a programme on TV and a young lady was sharing with the host, how a bad decision she took, had affected her life immensely and adversely.
She narrated how she met a Caucasian and she got married to him. The white man arranged for her to join him after the marriage and processes were initiated for her to join her husband in UK. It took a while for the requisite documentation to be procured and during this period, she took a decision that has haunted her till date.
According to her narration, she met a man, a Ghanaian, who she started dating, even though she was a married woman.
After a while her documents were ready and so she left to join her husband abroad without breaking off the unholy relationship with the man from Ghana.
After she got to UK, this man from Ghana, kept pressuring her to leave the white man and return to him in Ghana. The white man at some point became a bit suspicious and asked about who she has been talking on the phone with for long spells, and she lied to him that it was her cousin.
Then comes the shocker. After the man from Ghana had sweet talked her continuously for a while, she decided to leave her husband and return to Ghana after only three weeks abroad.
She said, she asked the guy to swear to her that he would take care of both her and her mother and the guy swore to take good care of her and her mother as well as rent a 3-bedroom flat for her. She then took the decision to leave her husband and return to Ghana.
She told her mum that she was returning to Ghana to marry the guy in Ghana. According to her, her mother vigorously disagreed with her decision and wept.
She further added that her mum told her brother and they told her that they were going to tell her husband about her intentions.
According to her, she threatened that if they called her husband to inform him, then she would commit suicide, an idea given to her by the boyfriend in Ghana.
Her mum and brother afraid of what she might do, agreed not to tell her husband. She then told her husband that she was returning to Ghana to attend her Grandmother’s funeral.
The husband could not understand why she wanted to go back to Ghana after only three weeks stay so she had to lie that in their tradition, grandchildren are required to be present when the grandmother dies and is to be buried.
She returned to Ghana; the flat turns into a chamber and hall accommodation, the promise to take care of her mother does not materialise and generally she ends up furnishing the accommodation herself. All the promises given her by her boyfriend, turned out to be just mere words.
A phone the husband gave her, she left behind in UK out of guilty conscience knowing she was never coming back to UK.
Through that phone and social media, the husband found out about his boyfriend and that was the end of her marriage.
Meanwhile, things have gone awry here in Ghana and she had regretted and at a point in her narration, was trying desperately to hold back tears. Decisions indeed have consequences.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
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