There was an unusually heavy police presence at the Accra Fast Track High Court on Monday as Adamu Dramani Sakande, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, opened his defence in a trial in which he has been accused of perjury. The armed policemen stood at all the entrances to the Supreme Court building, with some also standing in the doorway of the court where the MP gave evidence in battle-ready mood. There was no immediate explanation for the unusual presence of the armed policemen. The MP was compelled to open his defence after Justice Quist, the trial judge, gave a ruling that the MP should first enter the docket to open his defence, after which he can call his star witness, who is in the United Kingdom, to come and testify. The accused person and his lawyer, Egbert Faibille, were in court to announce that the star witness would arrive in the country by October 11, 2010 and would give evidence the next day but the judge said enough time had been given to the accused person so he should open his defence right away. According to the judge, the case had been adjourned six times just for the arrival of the said witness, stating the law required that “an accused should open his defence, after which he can call other witnesses” to also testify for him. He said care must be taken so as not to allow an unnecessary delay of the case because of the arrival of a witness, saying the witness could testify later after the MP had finished with his evidence. Mr. Faibille, within a matter of seconds, had to prepare the accused person to open his defence. The MP, a security management specialist, was soft-spoken and sober as he entered the dock to tell his side of the story. He told the court, in response to a question by his counsel whether or not he was Ghanaian, that “I am fully Ghanaian”. And when asked about the allegations made by Sumaila Bielbiel, the complainant that he was a British citizen, the MP said he once was but renounced it before filing his nominations to contest for the parliamentary seat. Mr. Faibille told the court they were still waiting for the star witness to bring along some documents, so they would have to stop and then bring along the few they had in their possession and tender in evidence, praying for a short adjournment to enable them to continue with the evidence. The case was subsequently adjourned to Friday, October 8, 2010. Earlier, the principal state attorney in the case, Rexford Wiredu, told the court to let the accused person to open his defence, after which he could call other witnesses and noted that “an accused person is his own witness”. Mr. Faibille had always maintained that due to the nature of the case, they would prefer the lawyer who prepared the immigration documents to be around to tender them since the original documents were in his possession. He also prayed the court to give his client ample time to prepare himself, as the charge of perjury was quite serious in nature, adding that the star witness has confirmed he would arrive this month. Source: Daily Guide