James Gyakye Quayson’s name must be removed from the records of the Ghanaian Parliament as a Member of Parliament for the Assin North seat, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously.
This comes after the Supreme Court’s ruling affirming a request to exercise its original jurisdiction into the constitutionality of James Gyakye Quayson’s election.
Gyakye Quayson was barred from taking office as an MP in Ghana due to his citizenship as a citizen of Canada, the High Court in Cape Coast declared, and the plaintiff, Michael Ankomah-Nimfah, filed the application as a result.
The plaintiff sought redress by invoking the original jurisdiction, arguing that Gyakye Quayson’s eligibility to run for office in 2020 and his subsequent election were both illegal under the true and appropriate interpretation of Article 94(2)(a) of the 1992 Constitution.
The decision of the Supreme Court’s seven-member bench prohibits Mr. Quayson from identifying himself as a member of parliament.Mr. Quayson went on trial for counts of perjury, making a false statutory declaration with knowledge, deceiving a public official, forging a passport, and making a false declaration.
On February 12, 2022, Mr. Quayson filed a request to have the testimony of the prosecution’s first witness excluded. The High Court rejected this request, and the Supreme Court also rejected a subsequent application for certiorari to overturn the High Court’s ruling and the ban on the judge presiding over the case.
Through the assistance of his attorney Tsatsu Tsikata, the injuncted MP has requested that the Supreme Court examine a previous ruling in an effort to get it overturned.
Background
A group calling themselves “Concerned Citizens of Assin North” petitioned the Central Region of the Electoral Commission in November 2020 to have Mr. Quayson’s candidacy withdrawn on the grounds that he owed allegiance to Canada.
In the Assin North constituency for the 2020 elections, James Gyakye Quayson, who ran on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress, received 17,498 votes representing (55.21%), while Abena Durowaa Mensah, the New Patriotic Party’s candidate, received 14,193 votes representing (44.79%).After the election, a teacher from Yamoransa in the Central Region named Michael Ankomah-Nimfa petitioned the Cape Coast High Court to overturn the declaration of Mr. Quayson as the MP for Assin North.
The 2020 parliamentary election held in the Assin North Constituency was declared invalid because Mr. Quayson had violated the constitution’s prohibitions on holding dual citizenship, according to the Cape Coast High Court in the Central Region, which upheld Mr. Akomah-Ninfa’s request.
At the Cape Coast Court of Appeal, Mr. Quayson later contested the verdict.
A person who owes allegiance to a nation other than Ghana is not eligible to serve as a member of parliament, according to Article 94(2).
Later, the case was brought before the Supreme Court, which dismissed Assin North MP’s request for an interpretation of Article 94.
In March 2020, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected a petition brought by James Gyakye Quayson to overturn the Court of Appeal’s decision not to submit the interpretation of Article 94(2)(a) to the Supreme Court.The five-member panel also rejected a second request from Mr. Quayson for a stay of the Appellate Court’s appeal proceedings and a referral of the interpretation of Article 94 (2) (a) of the 1992 Constitution to the Supreme Court by a majority vote of 3-2.
At the time, the panel consisted of Justices Yonny Kulendi, Agnes Dordzie, Gertrude Torkornoo, Clemence Honyenuga, and President Gabriel Pwamang.
Case of Gyakye Quayson According to Mahama, the justice system has been unfair to residents of Assin North
John Dramani Mahama, a former president, had previously raised concern with the prosecution of James Gyakye Quayson.
The former President stated that the legal system had failed the residents of Assin North and James Quayson during his tour of the Central Region on Thursday, March 30, 2023.
“It is a blight on our system of justice that for such a long time, the Assin North people have been deprived a representation in Parliament.”
“It is a blight on our justice system that the writ which is supposed to remove an injunction on him [Gyakye Quayson] from carrying out his functions as an MP has been pending before the court for one year now.”
He bemoaned how the delay in the case has affected parliamentary business.
“As a result of that he can’t work in Parliament and in addition has reduced the size of the Minority size in parliament by one vote. It’s unfortunate.”
He called on “whoever is responsible” to take steps to ameliorate the situation as early as possible so that the people of Assin North would have representation in Parliament.
