Daramani did not object to submitted nomination form - Witness

Accra, Sept. 23, GNA - Mr Azu Bosco Anyingire, Bawku Municipal Electoral Officer, on Wednesday said he did not receive any objection after Adamu Daramani, the embattled Member of Parliament for Bawku Central had submitted his Parliamentary nomination form. According to Mr Anyingire, Daramni's form was duly completed and submitted.

He was answering questions under cross-examination in the case in which Daramani was being held for multiple nationalities. Adamu Daramani, aka Adamu Daramani-Sakande, aka Adamou Sakande, a Security Management Specialist, is facing nine counts, including being a prohibited immigrant and forgery of travelling certificates. Other charges are false declaration for office, perjury, deceiving public officer, unauthorized voting and other registration offences. Daramani has pleaded not guilty and the Accra Fast Track High Court, presided over by Mr. Justice Charles Quist, admitted him to GH¢10,000 bail with surety.

Answering questions from Mr Yonny Kulendi, counsel for Daramani, witness said an undertaking accompanying the nomination form indicated that Daramani was a native of Bawku. The second prosecution witness said if there were some problems concerning Daramani's form the Electoral Commission (EC) would have taken that up.

Witness said before he was subpoenaed, he never gave a statement to the police. Mr. Anyingire said he could not remember when he gave a statement to the police in Accra.

According to witness, he never gave a statement to the police in Bawku in respect of the matter.

When asked about his whereabouts during the Election Day, witness said he toured polling stations in the Bawku Municipality and did not see Daramani voting on the Election Day.

Witness said he did not know the complainant in the case. The prosecution's case is that in 2008, after the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, information reached the complainant, Mr Sumaila Biebil, a herdsman in Bawku, that the accused, who won the Bawku Central seat on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party, had multiple nationalities.

As part of Mr Biebil's civic responsibility, he noticed that Daramani had violated the law and taken the whole country for a ride. The complainant, therefore, reported to the authorities and investigations revealed that accused had multiple nationalities. The prosecutor said investigations had revealed that the accused had a Burkinabe passport number C10098625, which was issued in November 1999 and would expire in September 2009. According to him, the accused who was a Burkinabe, travelled on the said passport to Ghana on March 19, 2004 and departed on March 30, the same year.

The prosecution said it would lead evidence to show that accused also possessed and owned a United Kingdom passport number 094442650 on which he travelled to Ghana and arrived in the country in December 2005, sought and obtained a Ghanaian Entry Visa with the Ghana High Commission in London.

In furtherance to this, the prosecution said it would prove to the court how the accused, when returning to Ghana in 2007, managed to get a Ghanaian passport, thereby evading and abusing the county's electoral system and laws.

In addition, the accused used the same representation to get his constituents to nominate him as parliamentary candidate, and was accepted, thereby making them to believe that he was a Ghanaian. In the same vain, the prosecution said he filed all the requisite forms indicating that he was a Ghanaian. The prosecution pointed out that Article 94 (2) of the 1992 Constitution, forbids aliens from contesting elections in the country. The matter has been adjourned to September 25. 23 Sept. 09