Mrs. Eva Daramani-Sakande, wife of Adamu Daramani-Sakande, the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central who was recently jailed two years for not properly renouncing his British citizenship, has been speaking to DAILY GUIDE about her husband’s nationality.

The wife of the MP recently flew in from London where the couple lived before her husband came down to contest the parliamentary elections in 2008, and she is currently attending to her ailing husband at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital’s Cardiothoracic Centre.

The incarcerated MP suffered heart attack and was rushed to the facility.

In an interview with DAILY GUIDE yesterday, Mrs. Daramani-Sakande refuted the suggestion that her husband was a Burkinabe, hence his conviction by an Accra Fast Track High Court.

Eva said her husband is a Ghanaian born in Bawku and his parents were born in then Upper Regions in Bawku, denying that he held a Burkinabe passport.

“I was shocked to hear that my husband has been jailed because l know for a fact that he had renounced his British Citizenship,” she said, adding that she had to be strong to comfort her two girls who were very devastated by the news of their father’s incarceration.

She said her husband was one of the leading members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in London who always wanted to come down to serve his people, adding that he was a member of the NPP and constantly paid his dues even when he was in London.

According to her, “I always discouraged him from coming to Ghana to engage in politics and leaving behind his well-paid job as a security management specialist, because I knew politics in Africa could sometimes be dirty.”

Eva noted that it was a difficult decision allowing her husband to come down, while she and her two girls stayed abroad; but as his wife, she decided to support him.

She said her husband once informed her he was going with one of his friends, Marlon Praises Anipa, to see an immigration lawyer, Stanley Opoku, to help him with the renunciation processes.

“I don’t know much about politics in Ghana but I was informed that the lawyer who did the renunciation was not genuine,” she said, asking, “Is it possible for a fake immigration lawyer to put up an office in London without being arrested by the police for over 16 years of practice?”

Mrs. Daramani-Sakande noted that she knew for a fact that her husband never acquired any Burkinabe citizenship, but said he was once given a Burkina Faso travelling document by the British authorities to enable him travel to Ghana.

She said her father-in-law, George Alhassan Daramani, was born in Bawku, attended Achimota School in the 1950s with the former Defence Minister in the NPP administration, Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor among other politicians, after which he went to the University of Ghana, Legon.

In addition, she observed that Mr. Alhassan later became the deputy manager of the United African Company for the Northern Regions in the 1960s and he also worked as manager of the Ghana National Trading Company.

Eva said her mother-in-law, Madam Azumah Agnes Osumanu, was a native of Bawku and a teacher, a member of the Bawku East Development Association board a few years ago and was, until 2002, a juror at the Bawku Magistrate Court.

Family Angry

Family members of the MP and supporters of the New Patriotic Party in the constituency are hoping that the jailed MP would soon be freed as his team of lawyers appeals against the ruling.

According to them, the decision to incarcerate Adamu Daramani was unfair and unjustified, adding that it was one of the most unfortunate situations ever to hit the Bawku Municipality in recent times.

Spokesperson for his family, Osman Mboda, at a press conference in Bawku said the news about the incarceration of the MP remained one of the topics in many group discussions in the area, adding that “July 27 is indeed the darkest day as far as the political history of Bawku is concerned and shall be indelibly engraved in our minds.”

Mr. Mboda noted that there was no doubt about Adamu Daramani’s insistence on being a Ghanaian from Bawku, because the links and family roots were still there.

“I seize this opportunity to throw more light on the background of the man, Adamu Daramani Sakande, without risking to get embroiled into the nuances and technicalities of acquisition of citizenship which was the subject of contention at the law court.

“That aspect shall be reserved for the lawyers who possess the competencies and acumen to address it adequately, effectively and efficiently.

“Adamu was born to late George Alhassan Daramani and Madam Azumah Daramani in Bawku, in the Upper East Region of Ghana and not in Burkina-Faso, as being asserted by certain groups of people only to satisfy their political ambitions.

“The MP is said to have had his elementary education in Bawku, Bolgatanga and Tamale respectively as and when the circumstances of the time demanded.

“Further, he had his secondary education at Bawku Secondary School from form one to sixth form and was the Freeman House Prefect in his final year.

“He proceeded to the Institute of Professional Studies in Accra for further studies. The records are there for all to verify. His great grandfather was the 9th Bawku Naba, Naa Zangbeogo Mamboda who reigned between 1909 and 1918 and his grave can still be found at the entrance of Adamu’s family house. By this brief background, I am convinced that you have no doubts in your minds that Adamu is a fully blooded Bawku man and by extension a Ghanaian. He is neither a Burkinabe nor British, as being peddled and forced down the throats of Ghanaians.”

In as much as they respected and did not dispute the powers of the High Court, Adamu Daramani’s kinsmen were of the view that the court’s decision was against the weight of evidence available and full of inconsistencies; and so were very hopeful that the appeal would yield a positive result and the Member of Parliament freed.