The election petition brought against the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Jomoro Dorcas Affo-Toffey has been dismissed.
The case was dismissed by the Sekondi High Court on Monday, November 21.
The court held that Dorcas Toffey was validly elected by the good people of Jomoro and qualifies to be in parliament.
The court presided by Justice Dr. Richmond Osei Hwere dismissed the petition and declared the MP eligible on grounds that she lost her Ivorian citizenship at the very time she acquired her Ghanaian Citizenship.
The application was filed by one Joshua Emuah Kofie, who challenged the eligibility of the MP to contest as a representative of the people in the constituency on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
He alleged that the MP holds multiple nationalities –American and Ivorian citizenships, which violates the 1992 Constitution.
However, the MP denied having American citizenship but had Ivorian citizenship, which she said she had renounced.
Dorcas Affo-Toffey was subsequently ordered by the court to produce documents on her alleged renunciation of Ivorian citizenship but she failed to comply with the court’s order.
This compelled the applicant to subsequently file contempt charges against her for failing to provide the requisite documents.
Counsel for the MP, Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, pleaded with the court to strike out the contempt case and asked for forgiveness, noting his client had no intentions of disrespecting the court’s orders.
A lawyer for the petitioner, Bright Okyere Agyekum, asked the court to award a cost of GHC 20,000 against the MP for disobeying the orders of the court and wasting their time before striking out the case of contempt.
The court presided by Justice Sedinam Agbemava subsequently struck out the case and awarded a cost of GHC 5000 against the MP after her lawyer pleaded his client could not afford the amount requested by the petitioner’s lawyer, noting that “things are hard.”