Bawku MP Shot Down

An apparent bye-election is looming in Bawku Central after an Accra High Court yesterday disqualified the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Adamu Dramani-Sakande, from representing the constituency in Parliament. Mr. Dramani contested the Bawku Central seat on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in December last year and snatched it from Mahama Ayariga, the Spokesperson of President John Mills.Soon after the victory in December, a cattle rarer from the constituency dragged Mr. Dramani to court on allegations that he had a British citizenship he had not renounced. The Constitution of Ghana forbids persons with dual citizenship from becoming legislators.Mr. Dramani polled 20,157 of the ballots ahead of Ayariga�s 17,385 following a second recount which saw ballots conveyed from Bawku to Bolgatanga specifically for that purpose. Mahama Ayariga, after failing to retain the seat, has himself not ruled out the possibility of contesting the constituency election results in court and suspicion was rife that he instigated the cattle rarer to drag the MP to court. Ayariga has also raised questions about a particular polling station where he claims he has reasons to doubt the results.The NPP MP has pleaded not guilty to the dual citizenship charge and initiated an appeal process against yesterday�s High Court verdict. Already, the Bawku municipality is a politically active area that has not seen peace for some time now, and very minor disagreements have often escalated into bloody ethno-political conflicts.