The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Adamu Dramani Sakande has been convicted by the Supreme Court, after being found guilty of perjury and forgery. He is to serve a concurrent two years jail term on all the two counts.
It could be recalled that, Adamnu Dramani was on July 31, 2009, brought to court, charged with nine counts relating to his nationality, perjury, forgery of passport, election fraud, and deceiving public officers to be elected as an MP, but was exonerated on six of those charges on July 8, 2010.
However, Mr Sumaila Biebel, a cattle dealer in March 2009, filed a suit at the High Court, challenging the eligibility of the MP on the grounds that the MP held both British and Burkinfaso passports.
In lieu of that the Bawku Central MP, has been standing trial on three charges of false declaration by voting, perjury and deceit of public officer.
Adamu Sakande is also alleged to have, before the 2008 elections, made a false statement in an application to have his name included in the voters register.
The accused is also alleged to have registered as a voter when the voters register was opened, and subsequently went ahead to vote in the December 2008 general elections, when he was not entitled to do so.
The Accra Fast Track Court (FTC) adjudicating the allegations of perjury made against the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, Adamu Daramani Sakande at the time, adjourned hearing to October 28th, this year, following an appeal filed against its ruling.
The High Court, presided over by Justice Charles Quist had previously ruled, giving state prosecutors the chance to call another witness to authenticate the genuineness of a document presented by the MP, as having renounced his British citizenship.
It was this decision that propelled the defense to file a complaint at the Court of Appeal, claiming that the High Court has no right under the laws to give prosecution a chance to call a witness, after they had closed their case before the trial court.
An earlier application for stay of proceedings filed by the defense was rejected by the court, on the basis that the appeal filed by the MP is an interlocutory issue, and which could therefore not operate as a stay of proceedings of the case before it, noting that it would subject the court process to abuse and chaos.
The Bawku Central MP, presented an unauthenticated document as evidence of renouncing his British citizenship to take a public office.
However, the prosecution indicated that the documents were false and that the court should give it the opportunity to verify its authenticity, which the court obliged.
The result produced by the prosecution indicated that the document presented by the defense was false and not genuine.
As the prosecution sought to make the MP, who was then under cross-examination to identify the authenticated document, counsel for the latter, Mr. Yoni Kulendi objected to the line of cross-examination, noting that his client could not respond to documents which he had no knowledge of.
Meanwhile, Adamu Daramani Sakande, pleaded not guilty to all the charges leveled against him and was granted a GH?10,000.00 bail with a surety.
The prosecution at the time noted that the embattled MP never renounced his nationality of those countries before presenting himself to be nominated and elected as a parliamentarian in the December 2008 elections.
According to state prosecutors, the accused person, who is also a Security Management Specialist, entered the country on December 20 2007, adding that Adamu Daramani Sankande, on October 15 2008, in Bawku, falsely made a statutory declaration to enable him qualify as a parliamentarian, having sworn a statutory declaration on October 15th, 2008, that he was a citizen of Ghana.
The accused person is also alleged to have deceived a public officer, when on October 15, 2008, with the intent to facilitate the obtaining of an appointment, deceived a public officer acting in the execution of a public office duty.
The prosecution further told the court that information reaching the complainant in the case, Mr. Sumaila Biebel, a cattle dealer and native of Bawku, indicated that the accused person was Burkinabe, British, and Ghanaian.
According to the prosecution, the complainant, as part of his civic responsibility, reported the matter to the authorities and investigations revealed that the accused person had a penchant for the acquisition of multiple nationalities.
The prosecution further indicated that investigations also revealed that the embattled MP had a Burkinabe passport, number C10098625, which was issued in November 1999, and was expected to expire in November 2009.
The prosecution also pointed out that the accused person traveled to Ghana on the said passport, on March 19, 2004, and departed on March 30, 2004. The prosecution had stated that the prosecution would lead evidence to show that the MP wielded a British passport, with number 094442659, on which he traveled to Ghana on December 13th, 2005, after he had sought and obtained an entry visa from the Ghana High Commission in London.
?Strangely enough, when the accused was returning to Ghana in 2007, he had managed to get a Ghanaian passport, although he was still then, as now, a Burkinabe/British citizen,? the prosecution pointed out.
The prosecution further told the court that the MP held allegiance to other countries, adding that it would lead evidence to show that the accused person fraudulently obtained a Ghanaian passport, in order to evade the country?s electoral systems and laws.
At the Supreme court hearing, Mr Sakande’s lawyer,Yoni Kulendi, appealed to the court to mitigate the outcome of the ruling because of the health concerns of the MP.
Speaking after the court proceedings, Mr Kulendi told journalists that the lawyers did all they could to ensure that the facts are laid bare.
He however indicated that the judge had the final say on the matter.
