Rejoinder: 'Burger Bill' is passed!

Better Late Than Never:

At Last ROPAB is passed! The bill will amend the Representation of the People Law, 1992 (PNDC law 284) which imposes unjustifiable restrictions on Ghanaians resident abroad to register and vote in public elections and referenda in Ghana.

Thank God the hullabaloo is over. Now Ghana can move on to other important issues like passing the Right to Information Bill, Whistleblowers Bill and other pertinent issues relating to our 1992 Constitution. At last the Kufour government has chalked one major (constitutional)victory for the progress of Ghana in spite of brutal threats from the opposition. Our gratitude must also be extended to the Diaspora Vote Committee (DVC), a pressure group, which had also threatened to seek the view of the Supreme Court on the matter had the vote of the bill fallen through.

According to General News (www.ghanaweb.com), Parliament on Thursday, 23 February 2006 voted to pass the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, practically closing all avenues for further changes. The Minority, who had vehemently opposed the bill from the onset, was absent due to their indefinite boycott of Parliament. The bill had produced anxiety and debate even in homes and public places in the country ever since the Government introduced it in Parliament in 2005. The Minority had among other things cited administrative hurdles and practical problems such as logistics and geographical distance as some of their reasons for opposing it.

Only a simple majority of members was needed to pass ROPAB. New Patriotic Party has a practical Majority of 128 to pass ROPAB and could also lean on four members of People National Convention (PNC), three members of Convention People's Party (CPP) and one independent member, who have opted to be on the side of the Majority in Parliament. This added to 132. NDC would need to court 34 more votes to even the NPP?s 128 majority. It is also interesting to note that the Minority NDC members could still not have obstructed the passage of ROPAB if the amendment involved an entrenched clause in the Constitution. Thus the NDC would have needed two-thirds majority of all members' votes to carry through a constitutional bloc/death of ROPAB. Notwithstanding this should not have prevented the NDC to debate her case well for the sake of the records. It is very unfortunate that the opposition was lured into thinking that by boycotting the debate on ROPAB they could kill the bill. They had rather argued their case and gained more support than resorting to empty threats of war and chaos

The incident which we have just observed is not new in the politics of Ghana. In 1996 the opposition to the NDC government (Ironically the ruling party today) also boycotted parliamentary elections and the results favored the NDC to the detriment of the nation. NDC ruled for the next 4 years without any meaningful opposition until it was deposed in the 2000 general elections.

The legislative branch of government had every right to look into the absurdity of the PNDC law 284 as pinpointed by the honorable Electoral Commissioner. Laws are made for man not men for laws. The laws are to make life a little easier for people not to cripple us. The PNDCL 284 conflicted with Article 42 of the Constitution. It was therefore the national duty of the NDC and the other opposition members who boycotted Parliament to have debated the issues to arrive at a meaningful answer and solution to PNDC law 284. PNDC law 284 was just ambiguous to say the least and it needed to be addressed accordingly. In the case where a law conflicts with our constitutional provisions it is only right that the Constitution must prevail.