Bawku MP In Trouble

The woes of embattled MP for Bawku Central, Adamu Daramani Sakande, are not yet over as he has been dragged to court with criminal charges after an Accra Fast Track High Court ordered him to vacate his parliamentary seat following an alleged citizenship fraud.

Mr. Sakande is facing nine charges of forgery of passport or travel certificate, false declaration for office or voting, perjury, deceiving a public officer, registration offences, and unauthorised voting, in a court presided over by Justice Charles Quist.


The MP has been accused of holding two nationalities apart from the Ghanaian citizenship. He is said to be holding the passports of Burkina Faso and United Kingdom (UK) in addition to his Ghanaian citizenship and has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has been granted a GH¢10,000 bail with a surety.


He is to surrender his Ghanaian passport to the court registrar whiles the case has been adjourned to August 11, 2009.


The MP, who is a security management specialist, yesterday stormed the court with four lawyers, Messrs Yoni Kulendi, Nana Obiri Boahen, former Minister of State at the Interior Ministry, John Ndebugre, former MP for Zebila and Egbert Faibille.

Hon. Sakande is appealing against the default judgment which ordered him to stop representing his constituency, but the case has been adjourned since then because one of the judges was reportedly indisposed.


Hon. Sakande suffered a terrible blow just a few days after the default judgment when his attempt to stay the judgment and an opportunity to open his defence was thrown out by another Fast Track High Court.


Presenting the facts of the case at the court yesterday, acting Director for Public Prosecutions (DPP), Ms Gertrude Aikins, said Sakande’s accuser, Sumaila Bielbiel, is a cattle breeder, while the accused person is the MP for Bawku Central.


She said sometime early this year, after the complainant was informed that the accused person, who won the Bawku Central Constituency on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party, was a Burkinabe citizen, he realised that the specialist “had violated the constitution of Ghana by taking the country for a ride.”

According to her, the cattle breeder made a report to the authorities who conducted investigations which revealed that the embattled MP had a penchant for acquiring multiple nationalities because he had a Burkina passport with number C10008625 which would expire in November 2009 with which he traveled to Burkina Faso on March 19 and returned on March 30, 2004.


Furthermore, the DPP said the beleaguered MP also has a British passport with number 094442619 with which he sought and obtained a Ghanaian entry visa to travel to Ghana on December 13, 2005, adding that strangely enough, when he was traveling to the country again, he managed to get a Ghanaian passport while he was still a Burkinabe- British citizen.


The DPP observed that the accused person owed allegiance to two other countries and explained that non-citizens were not allowed to contest elections in the country, how much more someone who was twice an alien and had invaded and abused the electoral system of Ghana.


In addition, she stated that the specialist deceived the electorate on the misrepresentation that he was a Ghanaian and got his party, the NPP, to nominate him, and the people of Bawku to vote for him to become their MP, saying that so far, there had been no evidence gathered that proved the state wrong, hence, his arraignment to answer the charges.

Ms Aikins observed that the actions of the accused person flied in the face of Section 94(2) of the 1992 Constitution which forbids aliens to stand for elections.


Yoni Kulendi, lead counsel for the accused person, said the complainant who had been pursuing his client relentlessly is a close family member of a former contender for the Bawku Central seat, whom Sakande beat in the last election.


He said that the same Bielbiel, in a civil suit, sought to remove the embattled MP who was popularly elected by his constituency members and stated that it was a comprehensive campaign sponsored by the republic to use the court to remedy the political defeat of the accused person’s opponents. He however quickly withdrew the statement when the DPP raised an objection to the allegation.


Counsel for the accused person said the charges were baseless and calculated to harass and criminalize a Ghanaian who chose to abandon a relatively comfortable life in England to serve his country Ghana, adding that Sakande is a full-blooded Ghanaian who owed an allegiance to Ghana, adding that they would prove to the court at the right time that the allegations were unfounded.

However, the MP was reportedly served with the summons at the Court of Appeal where he had applied for a Stay of Proceedings in a civil matter.


According to the particulars of offence, the MP, whilst a prohibited immigrant with intent to contravene the immigration laws of Ghana, did apply to be issued a Ghanaian passport by stating that he was Ghanaian, when according to the particulars at that time, he knew he was not qualified.


It further indicated that on October 15, 2009, Hon. Sakande, in order to qualify as a Parliamentarian, falsefully made a statutory declaration to enable him act in that office and also in a bid to facilitate an appointment as a parliamentarian. He deceived a public officer that he was a Ghanaian and swore a statutory declaration to confirm that.


The particulars further stated that the MP, before the 2008 elections at Bawku, made a false statement in an application to have his name included in the voter's register for which he voted in the presidential and parliamentary election without qualification.