Prisoners Are Not More Ghanaian Than Those In The Diaspora�Everyone Must Vote � NPP

Central Regional Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwamena Duncan, is demanding that political parties have access to the prisons to campaign since that is the only way to convince those behind bars to vote for the party of their choice, if indeed President Mills and the Electoral Commission is bent on allowing prisoners to exercise their franchise in the 2012 General Elections. He is also demanding that Ghanaians living in the diaspora be allowed to cast their vote in next year�s election stressing that prisoners are not more Ghanaian than those living outside the shores of the country. He recalled that in 2008 when Professor Mills was an opposition leader, he strongly opposed efforts by the then Kufuor led NPP government to enable Ghanaians living abroad to vote, and added that if today President Mills wants prisoners to be accorded their rights to vote as enshrined in the constitution, then Ghanaians living in the diaspora must enjoy the same privilege which is by right. "What is good for the goose is equally good for the gander...Are the prisoners more Ghanaian than those living in the diaspora? Does the right to vote inure more to prisoners than to other Ghanaians living abroad?� he asked. Quoting extensively from Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution which considers voting as both a right and a responsibility, Kwamena Duncan said, "Every citizen of Ghana of sound mind has the right to vote and entitled to be registered as a voter for the purpose of public elections and referenda." To him, the significant contributions of Ghanaian citizens living abroad to the country's economy, cannot be overlooked since their remittances far outstrip the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) or international aid to the country. Empirical evidence indicates that in 2010, remittances or private unrequited transfers (net) in the year amounted to $2.12 billion, claims the World Bank Ghana Country office. And that amount exceeds the total volume of ODA that the country received in that year.