Dorcas Affo-Toffey, a member of parliament representing the Jomoro seat, has won the election petition lawsuit challenging her status as an elected MP due to her purported Ivorian citizenship.
The MP was deemed eligible by the Sekondi High Court, which was presided over by Justice Dr. Richmond Osei Hwere, on the grounds that she lost her Ivorian citizenship right when she obtained her Ghanaian citizenship.
Joshua Emuah Kofie submitted the application and contested the MP's eligibility to run for office as a National Democratic Congress candidate on behalf of the constituents in the district (NDC).
The application claims that the MP violates the 1992 Constitution by holding several nationalities, notably those of the United States and Ivory Coast.
The MP, however, asserted that she had also renounced her Ivorian citizenship and denied being an American citizen.
The Court subsequently ordered Dorcas Affo-Toffey to provide documentation on her claimed renunciation of Ivorian citizenship.
However, it appears that the MP disregarded the court's directive, which obliged the applicant to file a contempt charge against her after she allegedly failed to show up for the hearing and give the necessary evidence of her renunciation of the purported dual citizenship.
The MP's attorney, Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, begged the court to dismiss the contempt case and begged for mercy, stressing that his client had no intention of disobeying the court's orders.
Before the case of contempt was dismissed, Bright Okyere Agyekum, the petitioner's attorney, requested that the court give the MP GHC 20,000 in costs for defying the court's orders and squandering their time.
Following a plea from the MP's attorney that his client could not pay the amount demanded by the petitioner's counsel because "things are hard," the court, presided over by Justice Sedinam Agbemava, dismissed the case and assessed costs of GHC 5000 against the MP.