The Supreme Court has ordered the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson, to stop holding himself as a legislator.
Per a 5-2 majority decision, the court further ordered him from appearing in Parliament as an MP or doing anything as an MP.
The injunction against the MP will hold until the final determination of a suit challenging the constitutionality of Mr Quayson’s election as MP.
Background
Mr Quayson polled 17,498 votes, as against 14,793 by the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP’s) Ms Abena Durowaa Mensah, in the December 7, 2020 parliamentary election.
On December 30, 2020, Mr Ankomah-Nimfah filed a parliamentary election petition at the Cape Coast High Court challenging the eligibility of Mr Quayson to be an MP.
The court upheld the petition, and on July 28, 2021, following that petition by Mr Ankomah-Nimfah, the Cape Coast High Court declared Mr Quayson’s election as void, on the basis that he owed allegiance to another country other than Ghana, contrary to Article 94(2) of the 1992 Constitution.
It was the considered view of the court that as of the time Mr Quayson filed to contest the MP position, he had not renounced his Canadian citizenship and, therefore, he was not qualified to become a legislator.
The court, presided over by Justice Kwasi Boakye, ordered the EC to organise a new election in the constituency.
The MP filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal, Cape Coast, but on March 22, the second highest court of the land struck out the appeal for not being in compliance with the rules of court.
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