<<Print>>

The Supreme Court will begin hearing the case of an alleged multiple citizenship of Adamu Daramani Sakande, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central after the court unanimously dismissed his application for review. The presiding judge, Justice Sophia Akuffo, who read the verdict on behalf of the other eight judges, told the court yesterday that there �were no special circumstances warranting a review� of their earlier decision to order the MP to open his statement of case. According to her, a case merited a review when the applicant could prove exceptional circumstances that could or had led to a miscarriage of justice. She noted that the assertion by counsel for the applicant that the Court of Appeal was the final authority as far as electoral petitions were concerned could not be applied in the MP�s case, adding that �it was different in scope.� Justice Sophia was of the opinion that the applicant had failed to convince them that he had something different to warrant a review, adding that care should be taken so people did not to use application for review as a second appeal. She observed that the action of the MP�s accuser, Sumaila Bielbiel that seeks to invoke the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to bar the continuous sitting of the MP in parliament was a �constitutional action which raises deepest interest� in the nation, noting that the Supreme Court would review an application if it believed that it had an inimical repercussion on the constitution. She dismissed the application but awarded no costs and when Bielbiel prayed the court to award costs, the judge noted that such cases were meant to build the law. She revealed that his name would forever be in the law books. The justices also ordered the MP to return to the Supreme Court panel that was hearing the case in which Bielbiel, a cattle dealer, accused the MP of being a foreigner who should not have contested the elections. One of the judges, Justice Jones Dotse, who is said to be out of the country, in a letter read by Justice Anin Yeboah, also dismissed the MP�s application. Other panel members were S.A. Brobbey, Julius Ansah, Sophia Adinyera, Baffoe-Bonnie, B.T. Aryeetey, Sule Gbadegbe and Akoto-Bamfo. In the court where Bielbiel is seeking to invoke the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, the judges ruled that Daramani Sakande should file his response and statement of case in an application filed by his accuser. The presiding judge, Justice S. A. Brobbey, who read the verdict of the justices about three months ago, did not give immediate reasons but said their decision would be embodied in the final judgment of the application filed by Mr. Bielbiel. Other members of the panel were Justices Julius Ansah, R.O. Owusu, Jones Dotse, Anin Yeboah, Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, B.T. Aryeetey, A. Gbadegbe and Akoto-Bamfo. Mr. Bielbiel, after losing two applications at the Court of Appeal, in a case in which the MP filed a motion challenging his capacity to sue, turned to the Supreme Court to invoke its original jurisdiction on grounds that the Court of Appeal�s decision had left him stranded with no choice than to go to the Supreme Court. Yoni Kulendi, counsel for the MP, raised preliminary objection, saying the applicant, Bielbiel could not cease the original decision of the Court of Appeal simply because he was stranded but the Supreme Court justices believed otherwise and ordered the MP to file his response and statement of case in the matter.