Attractive Mustapha has outlined some of the concerns of the Ghanaian diaspora, as the 2024 election approaches.

The traveller, journalist and blogger spoke to Prince Benjamin (PB) on Class 91.3 FM’s Class Morning Show, Friday, October 18.

Peace

People of the Ghanaian diaspora “just want a peaceful election,” he said.

Although “people in the diaspora are affiliated to [one] political party [or the other], sometimes, when you talk to them, they say, ‘The two major political parties that we have are the same. All we want is a peaceful election’,” he emphasised.

Hinting at some frustration with Ghana’s slow progress, Attractive Mustapha said Ghana’s diaspora, per his interactions across multiple continents, had accepted “we have to just manage the situation and make sure there’s a peaceful election, peaceful Ghana, and move forward”.

Economy

The Ghana Bloggers Association President noted Ghanaians of the diaspora were intimately “concerned with everything going on in Ghana” since “when things go well for us in Ghana the pressure on them is less”.

Thus, “if you speak to them, you realise they face more pressure than those of us in Ghana,” he added. “When things are not going well [economically] people [in Ghana] mount pressure on them – people calling them for help [and] support.”

Here, he highlighted political parties also benefitted from remittance from the diaspora.

“Most of our political parties in Ghana get majority of their support from the diaspora. You can crosscheck online the amount of money that they make and get from the diaspora,” the entrepreneur said.

Remote voting

While Attractive Mustapha said “certain things will take time” to materialise, he expressed confidence Ghana was “growing” and would soon come to a vista where citizens, resident or on the move around the world, could take part in the electoral process without coming into the country.

The developed countries who currently give their citizens abroad such privileges, he underlined, “have been where we are before and we will also get to that level with time”.

To speed up such advancements, however, he advocated, “this conversation we’re having, people demonstrating and complaining – it’s all part of the process”.