Ghana’s High Commissioner to India, Mike Oquaye Jnr, has been exposed by a member of his party who has alleged that Oquaye Jnr is a British National and holds a dual citizenship card. If this allegation is true, then it means he is disqualified from contesting to represent the people of Dome Kwabenya in Parliament.
Mike Oquaye Jnr has expressed interest in contesting the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Primaries with the incumbent MP Adwoa Safo, but the latest revelation could mar his ambitions if the laws of Ghana are to be strictly implemented.
Below is a write up with the details.
Stephen Amoaning writes from UK & Ireland Branch Of The NPP
I bring you warm greetings from the UK & Ireland Branch of the New Patriotic Party.
As we prepare for our primaries, I wish to respectfully urge the leadership of the party especially the Electoral officers assigned to the various regions to thoroughly investigate individual documents presented and ensure fairness and sanity in everything they do in order to prevent any potential threat that can hinder our 2020 victory.
On that note, I would want to state this clear without any ambiguity and I do so in good faith and with a clear conscience without any malice or ill-motive whatsoever.
Documents available to me reveals that Mr. Michael Aaron Nii Nortey Yaw Oquaye -Jnr with the date of birth March 30, 1972 is a British National and holds a dual citizenship which contradict Article 8(1) of the 1992 constitution that states that “a citizen of Ghana Shall cease forthwith to be a citizen of Ghana if on attaining the age of twenty-one years, he, by a voluntary act, other than marriage, acquired or retains the citizenship of a country other than Ghana.”
Again, article 94 of the 1992 Constitution of the republic of Ghana spells out the qualification and eligibility criteria for MPs which Nationality is one of the key qualifications.
Article 94 (2) states: “A person shall not be qualified to be a Member of Parliament if he – (a) owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana.”
However, by law, individual aspirants with dual citizenship cannot contest as MPs and should not be allowed to contest in the first place as stated clearly in the 1992 constitution of the republic of Ghana.
Had I known is always at last.
As a party, we shouldn’t loose focus but take clue from what happened to our own Hon. Adamu Daramani Sakande, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, where he told the vetting committee to renounce his membership but refused. Later, The High Court, in a default judgment ordered the MP to vacate his seat.
On this note, I appeal to the vetting committee to thoroughly investigate into this matter before we suffer the consequences after our primaries.
Thank you.
Stephen Amoaning
NPP- UK & Ireland Branch Member.
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