EC Tenders Dramani�s Parliamentary Nomination Form In Court

A Parliamentary Nomination Form submitted by Adamu Daramani, the embattled Member of Parliament for Bawku Central before the December 7, 2008 general election was tendered in evidence in court on Wednesday. Mr. Azu Bosco Anyingire, Bawku Municipal Electoral Officer, tendered the form when testifying in the case in which Daramani was being held for multiple nationalities. 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. Mr. Anyingire, who had worked with the Electoral Commission (EC) for the past 14 years, said before the last December 7, elections, Daramani came for the parliamentary nomination form and after filling it he submitted it to the EC. Mr. Anyingire the second prosecution witness said on receipt of the form, he sent it to the EC office in Bolgatanga which in turn forwarded it to Accra. Tendering of the photocopied parliamentary nomination form by the prosecution was objected by defence counsel, Mr. Yonni Kulendi, who pointed out that the photocopied form was not the exact copy submitted by his client to the EC. Prosecution admitted that the original form was the property of the EC and should be returned to it. As a result, Mr. Rexford Wiredu, Principal State Attorney prosecuting, tendered the original form submitted by the accused in evidence. Mr. Kulendi therefore prayed the court to order the Court�s Registrar to make photocopies of the original parliamentary nomination form submitted and furnish the defence with a copy. This, the court obliged and directed the Registrar to do so. Continuing with his evidence in chief, Mr. Anyingire said the statutory declarative form submitted on October 18, 2008 by Daramani, indicated that 18 people supported his candidature. He said Daramani indicated on the form that his polling station was �Urban Council Hall A�, 46 years and residing at house number E75, Sabon Zongo, Bawku and a citizen of Ghana. On the form, witness said Daramani indicated that he had been cleared of all tax payment. Mr. Anyingire said he went through the form when subpoenaed to testify in the matter. The prosecution�s case is that in 2008, after the Presidential and Parliament 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 23.