Jomoro MP appeals court order to produce renunciation certificate

The order by a Sekondi High Court judge, Justice Dr. Richmond Osei Hwere asking the Member of Parliament for Jomoro, Dorcas Affo-Toffey, to produce copies of her certificate renouncing her Ivorian citizenship, has been challenged.

Lawyers for the MP have filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal in Accra arguing that the judge erred in making such orders.

The MP stands accused of perpetuating illegality by contesting the 2020 parliamentary election when she has multiple citizenships.

She has denied the allegations as made by Mr. Joshua Emuah-Kofie who petitioned the High Court over her eligibility.

The court at its hearing on June 22 2021 based on an argument by lawyers of the petitioner to have the respondent to produce documentary evidence of her renounced citizenship to Ivory Coast, ordered that such be done within ten days.

In a writ filed on 29 June 2021, lawyers of Mrs. Affo-Toffey are appealing to the court to quash the orders by Justice Dr. Richmond Osei Hwere, arguing that he “wrongly exercised its discretion in ordering the Appellant [Mrs. Affo-Toffey] to produce her certificate of renunciation of Ivorian Citizenship or any document evidencing renunciation of Ivorian Citizenship to when the Petitioner failed to establish the necessity for the production of the certificate of renunciation of citizenship or document evidencing renunciation of citizenship.”

Furtherance to their appeal, they indicated that the High Court judge erred in law by assuming that evidence of renounced citizenship could only be documentary.