CPP to extend parliament abroad

By Charles Takyi-Boadu Posted: Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The leadership of Nkrumah’s Convention People’s Party (CPP) are divided over certain proposals being considered for inclusion in its yet to be outdoored manifesto. Credible information picked up by the paper has it that certain high-ranking members of the party have proposed that the CPP should insert in its manifesto, a clause that would enable Ghanaians living abroad to have direct representation in the country’s Parliament.
The proposal, which has generated heated arguments among the leadership of the party, according to sources, has largely contributed to the delay in outdooring of its manifesto.
The debate has risen out of the fact that some high ranking members of the party have questioned why the CPP would reject the Representation of the People’s
Amendment Law (ROPAL) in principle and yet turn round to introduce such a proposition in its manifesto. There are those who think it is too generous to Ghanaians living abroad whilst others think it will play to their political advantage.
Some also believe it is the right thing to do in this age of globalization.
One of the key supporters of the proposal is the Chairman of the Research Committee of the Party, Dr. Nii Moi Thompson, but the old guards of the party are strongly opposed to it.
Chairman of the party’s Publicity Committee, Kosi Dedey told this reporter in a telephone interview that the subject is a proposal that might not be incorporated in the final manifesto.
Under the tenets of the proposal, Ghanaian groups abroad would be zoned so that each zone would elect one person to represent them in Parliament at their own expense.
The party intends to have in its manifesto representative each from Ghanaian associations from geographic areas namely the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
It is also not clear whether the proposal would mean an increase in the number of seats in Parliament and whether the Electoral Commission (EC) would play a role in the election of the representatives in the various global zones.
Proponents say the proposal is a win-win proposition that would give Ghanaians living abroad the opportunity to raise issues of interest through the representatives they would elect to Parliament, while at the same time contributing to the development of the land of their birth.