The exclusions in Act 527 are problematic for another important reason. Specifically, the prohibitions are not consistent with our obligations under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (Article 26), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ rights (Articles 2 and 3), and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 7). Finally, the prohibition is counter to the emerging progressive jurisprudence worldwide, including Nigeria where the Courts have held that Nigerians by birth can stand for any office, including the Presidency, even if they are dual citizens. In my opinion, the requirement to possess additional documentation that sole citizens are not required to possess is unreasonable, unnecessary, discriminatory and not constitutionally warranted and is therefore null, void and of no effect. What purpose is achieved by acquiring this document that is neither a travel document nor an identification card? Dual citizens ingress into Ghana with their Ghanaian passports and ingress into their other countries of citizenship with the passports of those countries. 6. When egressing out of Ghana, a carrier might demand evidence that the dual citizen is admissible into the destination country and the dual citizen can show the non-Ghanaian passport as evidence. The Dual Citizenship certificate is entirely worthless. In sum, the Amended Article 8(2) and the consequential legislation imposing public office-holding exclusions on certain citizens of Ghana is unconstitutional in that, the amendment has the obvious and intended effect (if not the express purpose) of discriminating against a certain class of citizens in violation of the Equality Clause of the constitution; devaluing and dehumanizing them in violation of the Dignity clause of the constitution; curtailing their right to participate equally and fully in the political process in violation of the Participation clause of the constitution; the grounds for the exclusions are not permissible grounds under the Equality, Dignity and Participation clauses of the Constitution; The Equality, Dignity and Participation Clauses of the Constitution being entrenched clauses of the Constitution, any purported amendment to those provision must be in conformance with the provision for the amendment of entrenched clauses spelled out in Article 290 of the Constitution; The amendment in question, not having been procured in conformance with the provision spelled out in Article 290 for the amendment of an entrenched clause of the Constitution, cannot stand. THE MYTH OF THE BAN ON HOLDING ELECTED PUBLIC OFFICE According to Article 94(2)(a) “A person shall not be qualified to be a Member of Parliament if he owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana.” Remarkably, this provision is being used to prosecute and persecute dual-citizens. For instance, Adamu Sakande, the MP from Bawku, has been on trial since 2008, even though he has renounced his British Citizenship. Let us be very clear that Article 94(2)(a) does not talk about dual citizenship. The framers of the 1992 constitution, when they wanted to talk about dual citizens did it in very clear and precise language. For instance, the pre-Amended Article 8(1) takes the form of “Subject to this article, a citizen of Ghana Shall cease forthwith to be a citizen of Ghana if, on attaining the age of twenty-one years, he, by a voluntary act, other than marriage, acquired or retains the citizenship of a country other than Ghana.” So Article 94(2)(a), if it were targeted at dual citizens would have read “a citizen of Ghana who acquires or retains the citizenship of a country other than Ghana shall not be qualified to be a Member of Parliament.” But the framers did not use this language! And for the obvious reason, that the statement was not targeted at dual citizens, who were largely aliens under the pre-amended Article 8(1) regime. 7, It is important to distinguish allegiance from citizenship. As a general rule, allegiance is owed to Kings and not to Republics. Allegiance is a relic of the common law, where subjects in England, had to trade their allegiance to the King in exchange for land. If one did a comparative study of the oaths that new citizens take in various countries, one would find significant variance in the content of the oaths. For instance, in USA, a new citizen makes oath that “I will support and defend the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.” Is this the same thing as owing allegiance to the USA? Canada does it differently. Here a new citizen makes oath as follows “I swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfill my duties as a Canadian citizen.” Again, here the allegiance is to the Queen, as allegiances, under the common law has always been, in return for land from the monarch.” The point is that it is not only incorrect to assume that Article 94(2)(a) addresses dual citizens, it is also undeniably wrong to assume that becoming a citizen of every country requires the same oath of allegiance. Thus, whether one owes allegiance to another country becomes a matter of fact, not a matter of assumption, as is being currently done in Ghana, especially by the political parties and in the Adamu case, where a perjury charge is being used to obfuscate the agenda against violating equal citizenship. Who was Article 94(2)(a) targeted at? While answering this question is not necessary to demonstrate that it was not targeted at dual citizens, I believe it is important for me to provide an answer for those who might ask the question. I believe that Article 94(2)(a) was targeted at those single citizens who conspired with other countries to engage in activities deemed inimical to the interests of the Republic. Official concerns and unofficial rumors about agents of foreign governments are pervasive in our political landscape to have attracted the attention of the constitutional framers. A memorable instance of this problem is the swap between USA and Ghana, in the matter of Soussodis et al. Some will no doubt disagree with my distinction between allegiance and citizenship. But even those who disagree with the distinction would probably concede that Article 94(2)(a) is hopelessly ambiguous. It is a widely understood and accepted principle of interpretation that ambiguous laws are not to be construed to deny people rights, here a right that is fundamental to citizenship. No court has interpreted Article 94(2)(a). However, some political parties have opportunistically applied the provision to disqualify dual citizens or to intimidate them into renouncing their citizenship, a practice that subsequently robs the renouncer the ability to travel freely to the other country where she might continue to have interests, including family. In the Adamu Sakande case, the courts have entertained a writ from a civilian that essentially takes for granted that Article 94(2)(a) is directed to dual citizens. The Republic has built on this private frivolous writ to bring a perjury charge against the Member of Parliament. 8. How are other emerging democracies handling the dual citizenship question? The most recent decision on the matter is the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the case of Tanase and Chirtoaca v. Moldova. In that case, the applicants, both Moldovan nationals had challenged a 2008 amendment to the Moldovan Constitution, which barred Moldovans who held dual nationality from contesting for Parliamentary positions. The Grand Chamber of the Court held that the 2008 amendments were unlawful and disproportionate to any concern of loyalty the country may have. The Court held that- ‘...in a democracy, loyalty to a State did not necessarily mean loyalty to the actual government of that State or to a particular political party. There were other methods available to the Moldovan Government to ensure loyalty of MPs to the nation, such as requiring them to take an oath. Such measures had been adopted by other European countries.’ The archaic language of Article 94(2)(a), imported into the Constitution in 1992 when dual citizenship was not even recognized, does not affect dual citizens per se and the persecution of Adamu Sakande must stop. In the same breadth, I urge those dual citizens interested in running for office not to renounce their citizenship but to fight the war against equal citizenship. SOME CITIZENS’ VOTES COUNT MORE THAN OTHERS According to Article 47 (1) “The boundaries of each constituency shall be such that the number of inhabitants in the constituency is, as nearly as possible, equal to the population quota.” Here is another command form the Constitution that reinforces the doctrine of equal citizenship. By using the population quota to demarcate constituency boundaries, each person’s vote is weighed equally, consistent with equal citizenship. Yet, since 1992, the Electoral Commissioner has created boundaries that severely violate Article 47(1), justifying the violation by citing the variance provision of Article 47. The variance provision of Article 47, allows the Electoral Commissioner to create constituencies whose numbers “may be greater or less than the population quota in order to take account of means of communication, geographical features, density of population and area and boundaries of the regions and other administrative or traditional areas.” The variance provision is necessary because of various logistical realities and the difficulties of perfect division. However, it does not permit the Electoral Commissioner to create constituencies that are 10 times as smaller (or larger) as others. A close study of the post-1992 electoral shows a clear tendency for the largest constituencies to be NPP strongholds and the smallest constituencies to be NDC strongholds. It is neither necessary nor useful to speculate on the reasons for this electoral map. What is clear is that it has resulted in gerrymandering, and has assaulted the doctrine of equal citizenship. The Electoral Commissioner should simply set an interval that all constituencies should fall within. As an example, assuming, the population is 20 million and there are 200 constituencies. That leads to a population quota of 100,000. The formula for creating constituencies can be specified as the population quota ± 5%. This way, constituencies can range from 95,000 to 105,000, depending on the variance factors. I am happy that 9 this matter is now before the Supreme Court in Bortier and Quaye v Electoral Commissioner. It is my fervent hope that the Supreme Court’s decision will affirm the doctrine of equal citizenship. ALL LAW BE LAW The Supreme Court is to be commended on its recent decision on prisoners’ right to vote (Ahumah Ocansey et al. v The Electoral Commissioner et al.). The Court is right in upholding the doctrine of equal citizenship. Under Article 42, the right to vote is given in unqualified terms and is not forfeited by committing a crime. What is not so amusing is the rapid move by the Electoral Commissioner and the Mills Government to enforce the ruling compared to the snail pace in enforcing ROPAA. ROPAA must be enforced because ALL LAW BE LAW! It is utterly inappropriate and incurably lawless for the Electoral Commissioner and the Government to use the lack of funds to selectively enforce voting rights and consciously undermine equal citizenship. Failing to act, citizens abroad must issue a writ of mandamus to compel the Electoral Commissioner to put in place mechanisms to allow them to vote in 2012. The Electoral Commissioner has an absolute duty to enforce ROPAA and has no discretion whatsoever. WINNING THE WAR ON EQUAL CITIZENSHIP How do we win the war on equal citizenship? I see five steps. First, those who believe in the doctrine of equal citizenship must support and fund only candidates who commit to enforce the doctrine. Second, citizens abroad must engage with the Electoral Commissioner to seek ways to implement ROPAA for 2012. If Kenya and Ivory Coast can implement their “ROPAA,” why not Ghana? I think citizens abroad should come out with proposals for ROPAA to become self-financing, perhaps by paying a nominal registration fee of no more than $50 to a ROPAA fund. Third, more workshops are needed on equal citizenship. Fourth, we must establish a civil liberties union to fight in the courts. Finally, those who are affected by the war on equal citizenship must organize. They are too divided and that makes it easy for laws to be made and applied in ways that are detrimental to their interests.