MP for Jomoro, Dorcas Affo-Toffey
The Sekondi High Court, presided over by Justice Dr Richard Osei Kyere, has ordered the NDC MP for Jomoro, Dorcas Affo-Toffey, to produce documents showing proof of renunciation of her Ivorian citizenship. The order, which was given yesterday, is to be carried out within 10 days.
The order was made as part of an ongoing case in which her legitimacy to hold the position of a Member of Parliament in Ghana is being challenged.
It is the case of the petitioner that Dorcas Affo-Toffey does not qualify to be an MP, arguing that at the time of her election, she was still holding an Ivorian passport.
Dorcas Affo-Toffey had told the court that she was no longer in possession of an Ivorian passport.
Petition
The petitioner, Joshua Emuah Kofie, had prayed the court to grant an order to inspect documents that prove Mrs Affo-Toffey’s citizenship.
He had argued that Mrs Affo-Toffey possessed Ivorian and American citizenship together, and failed to renounce them accordingly prior to the filing of nomination to contest the 2020 parliamentary election.
The embattled MP is reported to have stated on March 9, 2021 that “she has never been an American citizen but she was an Ivorian citizen, and had renounced that Ivorian citizenship before she filed her nominations to contest the December 2020 parliamentary elections in Jomoro Constituency.”
But since then, she and her counsel had, according to the petitioner’s lawyers, failed to provide a certificate of renunciation of her Ivorian citizenship or any other document that supports her claim. In the pursuit of the truth in this claim, the petitioner requested of the court to permit his counsel “to take copies thereof, at our cost.”
“It is pertinent to state that till date 1st respondent’s lawyers, even though in receipt of the letter, have failed, refused and/or neglected to answer my lawyer’s request without any justifiable reason whatsoever,” he said in a writ.
Techiman
In a related development, the Wenchi High Court has slapped the 2020 NDC parliamentary candidate for Techiman South with a punitive cost of GHC4, 000 at the case management conference in respect of the legal challenge of the outcome of the parliamentary election.
Christopher Beyere Baasongti, who sued the Member of Parliament for the area, Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah, and the EC, is praying the court to quash the declaration of Mr Korsah, of the NPP, as the winner of the election.
At the case management sitting yesterday, the court partially granted the petitioner’s motions to amend the title of his suit to state that “no proper collation” was done in the elections, among one other relief.
The petitioner was however slapped with a punitive cost of GHC7, 000.00, which was later reduced to GHC4, 000.00, after series of legal arguments, for delaying court proceedings.
