A nominee for Deputy Minister for Finance, Charles Kofi Asare Adu Boahen has fended off claims that he still holds allegiance to the United States of America.
But 46-year-old investment banker was emphatic when he appeared before the Parliament’s Appointment Committee on Tuesday that he does not hold dual citizenship.
During the vetting, the ranking member of the committee, Haruna Iddrisu claimed information available to him suggests that the nominee is still a US citizen.
The MP for Tamale South was clear in his conviction that prior to the appointee’s nomination, he was a citizen of America as at March 14, 2017.
Charles Adu Boahen though admitted that he once held dual citizenship when it was allowed during the Kufuor administration, he has since renounced one.
He told the committee that he started the process to renounce the US citizenship as far back as December 2016.
According to him, he has gone through three counseling sessions at the US Embassy in Ghana as part of the renunciation process.
“I have also taken the oath of renunciation and surrounded my [US] passport, so I can say I am not a citizen of the United States of America,” Charles Adu Boahen pointed out.
Though the chairman of the committee, Joe Osei Owusu attempted reading a documenting suggesting that the nominee has duly renounced the US citizenship, it was agreed that the nominee provided better and convincing evidence later.
Nonetheless, the MP for Bawku Central Mahama Ayariga reminded the nominee and the appointing authority the legal implication of holding dual citizenship.
He noted that the nominee has only produced a receipt indicating that he has started the process to renounce that citizenship but was not “satisfying” enough, which demands that he produces a certificate evidence of the process.
The nominee is the son of the 1992 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Prof. Albert Adu Boahen.
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