By: Ivy Benson
The Fast Track Court adjudicating a case of false declaration, perjury and deceit of public officer brought against the embattled Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, Adamu Daramani Sakande, has given an extension of time to the defense to file a submission of no case.

The court, presided, over by Justice Charles Quist, gave the extension last Friday, April 27, after counsel for the MP, Mr. Egbert Faibille jnr., informed the court that the defense was unable to complete its address, and therefore, needed more time to finish it up.

The defense was ordered to file its submission of no case before last Friday, after they ended their case, however, they could not satisfy the order of the court, and had to seek more time to complete their address on the issue.

The court, therefore, ordered them to file their address before the next adjourned date, May 11.

The MP, who pleaded not guilty to all the charges leveled against him, is currently on a GH¢10,000 bail.

It is the case of the prosecution that the accused person, who is a Security Management Specialist, was not qualified to be elected as an MP, since he held allegiance to another country at the time of seeking to be elected MP, which is against the law of the country.

The prosecution further noted that the accused person holds a British passport, and could therefore, not be a Ghanaian, adding that Adamu Daramani Sankande, on October 15, 2008, in Bawku, falsely made a statutory declaration to enable him qualify as a parliamentarian.

The accused is also alleged to have before the 2008 elections, made a false statement in an application to have his name included in the voters register.

The MP is also accused of registering as a voter when the voters register was opened, and subsequently, went ahead to vote in the December 7, 2008 general elections, when he was not entitled to do so.

In proving its case, the Principal State Attorney, Mr. Anthony Wiredu, presented several witnesses, including the Assistant Director of Operations of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) stationed at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), Mr. Nolasco Nyiedu.

Mr. Nyiedu stated that the accused person had a British passport due to expire in 2014, and that travel history information on the MP indicated that apart from a British passport issued on November 18, 2004, on which he had traveled on, Mr. Sakande had also traveled on other traveling documents, including a Ghanaian passport.

Another prosecution witness, DSP Felix Mawusi from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters in Accra, noted that investigations and enquiries from the British High Commission in Accra revealed in a letter dated July 30, 2009 that the name and particulars of the holder of British passport number 094442659 was a British citizen.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sankande emphatically insisted that he was not a British citizen, and neither was he a Burkinabe at the time he started seeking to be elected into the Parliament of Ghana.

According to him, he was a Ghanaian born in Bawku, and that he had renounced his British citizenship.

His witnesses, Mr. Marlon Praises Anipa, Director of IBM Solutions, Specialist Consultants in Mental Health to the Mental Health Organisation in the United Kingdom (UK), and Mr. Stanley Jones, a lawyer in the UK, gave evidence in his favour.