Dr John Bilson, the brave Ghanaian who challenged Rawlings nationality

In 1993–1994, Ghana experienced a big shake in the political history of the country when the nationality of former president Jerry John Rawlings was challenged in the High Court.

The suit, filed by John Bilson, a former politician who led the extra-parliamentary Third Force Party under ex-president Hilla Limann, was an attempt to stop Rawlings from contesting the 1992 elections, Ghana’s first democratic elections in the Fourth Republic.

In the case titled 'Bilson vs. Rawlings and Another (1992) JELR 69624 (HC)', Dr. Bilson contested that the former president had a dual nationality - Ghanaian and a British because his father was Scottish.

He contested that Rawlings, at the time of his campaign to be elected as the president of Ghana, had not renounced his UK citizenship; hence, he was a non-Ghanaian based on sections 1 and 8 of the Ghana Nationality Act, 1971 (Act 361).

In court, Dr. Bilson requested:

“To restrain the first defendant-respondent herein from holding himself out and/or campaigning on any platform or at any public forum as presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in any part of Ghana pending the hearing and final determination of the suit.

"To restrain the second defendant-respondent from including the name and particulars of the first defendant-respondent in the performance of its functions in relation to the conduct and supervision of the November 3, 1992, presidential election.”

However, the judge ruled that the plaintiff, Dr. Bilson, failed to prove that Rawlings was not Ghanaian.

“The plaintiff has failed to provide in his pleadings particulars from which this court can infer that the first defendant is also a citizen of the United Kingdom. In the present condition of the plaintiff’s pleadings therefore, I hold that the plaintiff’s assertion that the first defendant held dual nationality at the age of 21 is purely speculative.

"I take a judicial notice of the fact that until September 1992, the first defendant was a member of the Ghana Armed Forces. Also, as head of state, he is the commander-in-chief of the Ghana Armed Forces. He had been a member of two governments of the Republic of Ghana. Currently, he is the head of state of Ghana. It is therefore to be expected that, in these capacities, he had on several occasions sworn allegiance to the Republic of Ghana. So that even if, on attaining the age of 21, he had dual citizenship (which is not admitted), the irresistible inference which this court draws from the oaths of allegiance he took on several occasions is that the first defendant does not owe allegiance to any foreign government. This must be so especially as he is still the head of state and a member of the government of the Republic of Ghana,” parts of the ruling read by Justice Essilfie Bondzie read.

Find the full ruling below:

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