Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has reacted to Justice William Atuguba’s (Rtd) description of the court’s judgement in the trial of the Member of Parliament for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson, as ‘scandalous’.
In a post shared on X on Tuesday, October 24, 2023, Bright Simons said that comments by the former justice of the apex court of Ghana are serious and an indication that not all is well with the court.
He added that if care is not taken, the Supreme Court would ‘sink’ in the future.
“For a former Justice of the Apex Court and one-time senior-most Justice on that same court to break ranks this way, you can judge how low the standing of the Supreme Court is bound to sink if it does not do the necessary soul-searching,” he wrote.
Speaking at a public lecture on ‘Protecting Our Democracy: The Role of the Judiciary’, on Tuesday, Justice Atuguba described the ruling of the court on the trial of Assin North legislator James Gyakye Quayson as scandalous.
He clarified that the court should not have entertained the case initially since it had already been adjudicated by the High Court.
Such a decision, he argued, contradicts fundamental legal principles.
Furthermore, he emphasised that the Supreme Court should have upheld the High Court’s decision rather than initiating a new trial.
“The decision in the Gyakye Quayson case was scandalous. The Supreme Court re-adjudicated the matter already decided by the High Court,” he said.
Justice Atuguba asserted that the Supreme Court made an error in its decision to invalidate Quayson’s election victory.
This decision came despite the Member of Parliament’s clear renunciation of his Canadian citizenship in November 2020, just a month before the December 2020 election.
He pointed out the inconsistency of the court’s stance, questioning the rationale behind the court’s assertion that Quayson owed allegiance to Canada, especially when the court had cited the renunciation certificate issued in 2019 as evidence to the contrary.