The Member of Parliament (MP) for Jomoro, Dorcas Affo-Toffey last Tuesday surprised the Sekondi High Court 1 when she wept and subsequently confirmed to the same court that she holds dual citizenship of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire
The embattled MP shocked persons in the courtroom when remarked that she holds dual citizenship and proceeded to explain that she is a Ghanaian by birth and Ivorian by birth. She is in court over a case challenging her eligibility to contest as MP.
Perhaps pressure from the counsel of the petitioner, the MP was seen wiping tears from her eyes after she was shown some evidence during her cross examination in the court. The MP’s admission was after counsel for the petitioner; Bright Okyere-Adjekum took the lawmaker, first respondent in the case through the start of his cross examination.
Confronted with evidence from the petitioner’s counsel, the Jomoro MP confirmed the authenticity of all documents filed by the petitioner as his evidence in chief and added that the documents are correct about her.
Dorcas Affo-Toffey further narrated to the court that she is an Ivorian by birth, and was born on May 4, 1971 in Ivory Coast, a town called Adzope. Continuing she told the court that she was born on May 4, 1972 in Ghana at the Kole -bu Hospital in Accra.
Another issue that came up during her cross examination was the issue of how she illegally acquired a Ghanaians Diplomatic passport at a time she was not a diplomat in 2018.
Speaking to the issue of the passport, the lawmaker remarked that she acquired her first Ghanaian passport in 2018 and further remarked that another Ghanaian passport was issued to her in 2013 also belong to her.
Her cross examination on the ongoing election petition commenced after Godwin Kudzo Tamakloe, her counsel confirmed with her if the witness statement was what she filed in court and would want to use it as the evidence in chief in the ongoing case. Her lawyer therefore moved for it to be adopted and used as confirmed.
The Sekondi High Court presided over by Justice Dr. Richmond Osei Hwere adopted the witness statement as her evidence in chief as prayed. It adjourned to July 18, 2022 for continuation.
This follows an application by one, Joshua Emuah Kofie challenging that the MP was not eligible to contest as a representative of the people in the constituency.
According to the applicant, the MP was holding multiple nationalities including American and Ivorian citizenships which contravenes the 1992 constitution.
The MP, however, denied having American citizenship but claimed to be in possession of an Ivorian Citizenship which she said she had renounced.
This made the applicant to pray the court to give an order to inspect the documents to ascertain whether the MP truly renounced her Ivorian citizenship before filing to contest as MP in 2020.
Dorcas Affo-Toffey was subsequently ordered by the Court to produce documents on her alleged renunciation of Ivorian citizenship.
But the MP reportedly failed to comply with the court’s order which compelled the applicant to initiate contempt proceedings against her after she allegedly failed to appear in court and provide the requisite documents proving her renunciation of the alleged dual citizenship.
Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, counsel for the MP, pleaded with the court to strike out the contempt case and asked for forgiveness noting his client had no intentions of disrespecting the orders of the court.
Lawyer for the petitioner, Bright Okyere Agyekum asked the court to award a cost of GHC 20,000 against the MP for disobeying the orders of the court and wasting their time before striking out the case of contempt.
The court presided by Justice Sedinam Agbemava subsequently struck out the case and awarded a cost of GHC 5000 against the MP after her lawyer pleaded his client could not afford the amount requested by the petitioner’s Lawyer, noting that “things are hard.”
Discussion about this post