Former President John Dramani Mahama has promised to review the constitutional provision that prevents Ghanaians with dual citizenship from holding political positions in the country. Speaking at an NDC rally in Tamale on Sunday, May 7, 2023, Mr. Mahama said that the law hurts the country’s human resource and must not be allowed to fester any longer.
He insisted that when NDC comes to power, they will clarify that constitutional provision that compels Ghanaians with dual citizenship to give up their foreign citizenship before they contest elections.
According to him, a country’s human resource is its best resource. Ghana has three million of its citizens abroad who have acquired skills and different talents. Mr. Mahama argued that there is no need for a law that bars them when Ghana has a dual citizenship law. He said that clarifying the law will enable Ghanaians with dual citizenship to come and contest for parliamentary seats and hold offices in Ghana without giving up their other citizenship.
Mr. Mahama also accused the government of being behind the Supreme Court’s injunction against Assin North MP, James Gyakye Quayson who represented the opposition National Democratic Congress in that constituency. Mr. Quayson was sued by one Richard Takyi-Mensah, a teacher and a resident of Yamoransa in the Central Region, for failing to renounce his Canadian citizenship at the time he picked nomination forms to contest the Assin North Constituency election in 2020.
Mr Mahama believes that such acts and conducts are an affront to the country’s growing democracy. He stated that “we have seen the cardinal sin of the 4th Republic which is the disenfranchisement of the people of SALL. For one whole term, they have not had a Member of parliament. Let’s put that aside, the people of Assin North elected a person to represent them in Parliament.”
