FEDERATION OF GHANAIAN DIASPORA IN EUROPE
(FEGHADE)
REGISTERED IN THE
KINGDOM OF BELGIUM
26/10/2015
Dear Chair of the Electoral Commission,
In the discharge of its constitutional mandate to run free, fair and credible elections, your Commission has named a five-man panel to hold a two-day public hearing on the controversial Voters’ Register.
They are His Lordship Professor V.C.R.A.C. Crabbe; Most Reverend Professor Emmanuel Asante; Dr. Grace Bediako, Dr. Nii Narku Quaynor; and Maulvi Bin Salih.
The setting up of the panel is the result of petitions you received for a new Voters’ Register for 2016 elections and beyond. This panel is to make findings and recommendations on the issue for the EC for final decision and communication to the public.
The Federation of Ghanaian Diaspora in Europe, FEGHADE, hereby suggest that a sixth seat be created for a representative of the diaspora. The bulk of the complaints about the Voters’ Register are about thousands of voters being on foreign voters’ lists in addition to that of Ghana. Some of them could be Ghanaian Diasporans with dual nationalities. They will then require a separate treatment from the eventual totally non-Ghanaians who might have found their way on the lists
Today, all over the world Ghanaian political parties have created branches and are asking members to register and vote in Ghana as well. Several Ghana diasporans of course with dual nationalities are also calling for the implementation of the ROPAL to enable people with Ghanaian nationality, dual or not, to be able to participate in Ghana’s elections abroad. On the 27/03/2015, Dr. Afari Gyan Ex EC Chairperson, received a FEGHADE Delegation on this issue at the EC premises.
The creation of FEGHADE is the major outcome of the Diaspora Engagement Policy meeting organised by Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ICMPD and MiEUx of the European Union in Brussels last October 2014. We are a mouthpiece for Ghana’s diaspora.
For extra transparency and integrity, FEGHADE esteems that the diaspora must have a representative on the panel.
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