Adamu Daramani Sakande
The submission of no case filed by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, Adamu Daramani Sakande, with the hope of ending the legal tussle at the Supreme Court against him, failed to yield results as he was ordered to open his defence.
The presiding judge, Mr Justice Date-Baah, who read a unanimous decision of the court, said the case was not a jury trial so the MP should, in the interest of justice, open his defence and state his side of the story.
According to them, the court could not assume there was no evidence before them because Sumaila Bielbiel, the cattle dealer who is seeking the original jurisdiction of the court to oust the MP from Parliament, had filed an affidavit. They consequently ordered him to open his defence.
Bielbiel is seeking to oust the MP from Parliament based on allegations that he was a British national.
Mr. Faibille, at the last hearing, told the court that in view of the fact that Bielbiel had no witnesses, among other reasons, they had filed a submission of no case, adding that the rules of evidence had not been complied with.
It would be recalled that Bielbiel, in January, told the nine-member panel hearing his case against the MP that all he wanted to say was contained in his affidavit, adding that if they wanted any further clarification, they could call their own witnesses.
Bielbiel said these when attempts to get him to stick to the pleadings he filed before the court proved futile as he kept veering off his pleadings, which made counsel for the MP, Yoni Kulendi, object to his line of evidence.
Mr. Kulendi objected to the line of questioning of Mr Bielbiel, who said he met the MP in London in 1997.
Mr Kulendi said the issue of meeting was never a part of his pleadings.
Slyvester Williams, the state attorney in the case, pleaded with the Supreme Court to adjourn the case to enable the plaintiff to seek the services of counsel as his inability to give evidence could be attributed to the fact that he did not have counsel.
On his opinion about the adjournment, counsel for the MP stated that the court had always made decisions, bearing in mind that the plaintiff did not have counsel, adding that when a lawyer freely offered his services to Bielbiel, he said he did not need one.
The justices of the Supreme Court said there was an extent to which they could allow him some leeway because he did not have counsel but they could not continue doing so in some instances because they could be accused.
Prof Date-Baah, in reaction to the statement of Bielbiel, said that was not how things were done and that he would be given the last opportunity to either get himself a lawyer or they would just listen to whatever he had to say.
Other panel members were Justices Julius Ansah, Sophia Adinyera, Rose O. Owusu, Jones Dotse, Anin Yeboah, Baffoe-Bonnie, Sule Gbadegbe and Vida Akoto-Bamfo.
By Fidelia Achama
