Dorcas Affo-Toffey, Member of Parliament (NDC) for the Jomoro constituency, has won the election petition case challenging her eligibility as a legally elected Member of Parliament over her alleged Ivorian citizenship.
Dr. Richmond Osei who presided over the case at The Sekondi High Court dismissed the petition on premises that the defendant lost her Ivorian citizenship at the very time the defendant obtained her Ghanaian Citizenship.
The MP from the NDC side who won the seat of Jomoro constituency had her victory challenged by Joshua Emuah Kofie, who petitioned the law court to quash the MP’s victory as the Member of Parliament for the constituency.
According to Joshua, the MP per Ghana’s laws cannot be regarded as the Member of Parliament due to her wielding multiple nationalities, thus Ghanaian, Ivorian, and American citizenships, which is apparently in contravention of the 1992 Constitution.
Dorcas Affo-Toffey, denied all accusations and insisted on the renunciation of her Ivorian citizenship which led to the Court’s order, asking her to produce documents to substantiate the renunciation of her Ivorian citizenship.
The MP however, couldn’t produce these documents to back her claims, this subsequently led to the applicant to further his action in filing a contempt proceedings against the MP.
Lawyer for the petitioner, Bright Okyere Agyekum asked an amount of GHC 20,000 to be slapped on the MP for not heeding to the Court’s order.
Counsel for the MP, Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe on the other hand pleaded with the court to strike out the contempt case and to forgive his client, explaining that his client had no intentions of disrespecting the orders of the court.
A reduced amount of GH¢5000 however, was slapped on the defendant by Justice Sedinam Agbemava following her lawyer’s plea.
Ultimately, court proceedings warranted a lawyer from Ivory Coast and making Ivory Coast’s laws with respect to nationality applicable in the court’s proceedings which resulted in factual grounds acquitting the MP.
The MP in an interview admitted going through a lot and thanked God for her win. She also thanked the Ivorian lawyer, her team and daughter who had been by her side in the adjudication.
