[2012]DLSC17788 • February 8, 2012 • Supreme Court •
SUMAILA BIELBIEL vs. ADAMU DRAMANI & ATTORNEY GENERAL (No 3)
The case concerns the eligibility of the first defendant, Adamu Dramani, to stand for election and be sworn in as Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, specifically whether he had renounced his British citizenship at the relevant times. The plaintiff challenged the first defendant's qualification on the basis that he was still a British citizen, evidenced by possession of a British passport.
read moreJUDGMENT DR DATE-BAH Introduction There are two kinds of burden of proof recognised by the common law and which are preserved in Ghanaian law by the Evidence Act, 1975 (NRCD 323). In the common law, some cases and textwriters have made the distinction between the "legal burden of proof' and the "evidential burden of proof'. This distinction is mirrored in the Evidence Act,1975 by the distinction between the "burden of persuasion" and the "burden of producing evidence." Thus section 10( 1) provides as follows: "10. Burden of persuasion defined (1) For the purposes of this Act, the burden of persuasion means the obligation of a party to establish a requisite degree of belief concerning a fact in the mind of the tribunal of fact or the Court." Whlist section 11(1) states: "11. Burden of producing evidence defined (1) For the purposes of this Act, the burden of producing evidence means the obligation of a party to introduce sufficient evidence to avoid a ruling on th...