The lead counsel of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Jomoro, Dorcas Affo -Toffey, Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, has given details as to why they ruled in favour of his client in an election petition challenging her legitimacy.
The election petition against Dorcas Affo-Toffey, was struck out by the Sekondi High Court on Monday, November 20, 2022.
This comes after a citizen, Joshua Emuah Kofie, went to court to challenge the eligibility of the MP to contest as a representative of the people in the constituency on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on grounds that she had multiple nationalities, including American and Ivorian citizenships, which is against the 1992 Constitution.
The Sekondi High Court presided over by Justice Dr. Richmond Osei Hwere dismissed the case on grounds that the MP was eligible to contest as she lost her Ivorian citizenship at the very time, she acquired her Ghanaian citizenship.
Speaking in a TV3 interview monitored by GhanaWeb, Edudzi explained that the MP never had American citizenship.
He added that he managed to bring in an Ivorian citizenship expert who was able to convince the court that Dorcas Affo-Toffey was not an Ivorian because she had renounced her citizenship of that country in 2019.
“… the burden was with us to prove. She (the MP) testified and then I brought in an expert lawyer from Ivory Coast as well. So, this lawyer from Ivory Cost come to testify in relation to Ivorian law. The fact that I’m a lawyer in Ghana does not mean that I know what the law is in Ivory Coast.
“The judge too is neutral. It is not the responsibility of the judge to go out there looking for laws. So in this case, whereas we went to Ivory Cost to bring, the petitioner never brought in, he only testified for himself.
“So, if you read the judgement, you notice that when I cross-examined him, I asked him a very simple question. And the question was whether he agrees with me that is not an expert in Ivorian law and he said yes. So, this means that whatever he said is based on what somebody might have told him.
“… the judge actually made reference to those gaps that were left in the case of the petitioner,” he said.
Watch the interview below:
Watch the second part of Elvis Afriyie Ankrah's interview on GhanaWeb TV below:
Also watch the nomination for the GhanaWeb Excellence Awards Youth Edition below:
Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe