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NewsGyakye Quayson appeals Supreme Court's order for Parliament to expunge his name...

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Gyakye Quayson appeals Supreme Court’s order for Parliament to expunge his name from its records

Member of Parliament for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson, has filed an application for a review of the Supreme Court’s directive to have his name struck off the Parliamentary records.

The apex court on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, instructed Parliament to expunge Mr Quayson’s name from the House’s records.

Quayson’s legal team contends that the Supreme Court’s decision undermines Ghana’s constitutional and legal structure.

The objective of the review is to challenge the justices’ interpretation of the nomination deadline and raise concerns regarding the absence of proper procedural fairness in removing Quayson’s name from Parliament without a hearing.

It also said the Supreme Court judgement was fundamentally erroneous in ordering Parliament to expunge the name of Gyakye Quayson without giving him a hearing “and with no consideration as to the constitutionality of such a direction having regard to the constitutional structure and procedure of Parliament”.

The Supreme Court on June 22, 2023, granted James Gyakye Quayson seven more days to file a review, challenging the declaration of his election as the MP for Assin North as unconstitutional by the court.

But per the writ, Mr Quayson’s lawyers filed the application for review on July 5, 2023.

The writ noted that the seven-day period was rather “short, given the number of fundamental and basic errors of law that we wished to make submissions on.”

Mr Quayson’s lawyers filed a Statement of Case within the aforementioned period and later indicated that at the end of that Statement of Case, it would seek leave to add the further submissions by July 4, 2023.

Background

Following the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections, one Michael Ankomah Nimfah dragged Mr Quayson to a High Court for contesting the Assin North seat while in possession of Canadian and Ghanaian citizenship.

The Cape Coast High Court after hearing both the petitioner and respondent in July 2021, nullified the Assin North election on the basis that Mr Quayson had dual citizenship.

However, Mr Quayson continued to parade himself as a legislator. This prompted the petitioner to take his case to the Supreme Court for interpretation of Article 94 (2) (a).

In April 2022, the apex court instructed the now former NDC MP to stop holding himself as an elected MP until the determination of the suit challenging his election.

The court also ordered him to abstain from any Parliamentary business and also refrain from engaging in activities pertaining to an MP.

Mr Quayson’s lawyers filed an appeal but the Supreme Court dismissed it.

In its ruling the Supreme Court noted that it would not ignore the submissions on the continued disregard of the orders of the High Court which have not been suspended or overturned.

According to the court, allowing Mr Quayson to remain in the capacity as MP “will be an indictment of the administration of justice.”

Meanwhile, Mr Gyakye Quayson has been re-elected as Assin North MP and sworn-in following a by-election on June 27.

Mr Gyakye Quayson on Tuesday, June 27, beat his closest contender, Charles Opoku of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Assin North by-election by obtaining 17,245 votes out of the total valid votes of 29,962, representing 57.56 per cent.

Mr Charles Opoku, on the other hand, garnered 12,630 of the votes cast, representing 42.17 per cent while Bernice Enyonam Sefenu of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) secured 87 votes.

But Mr Quayson’s position as MP hangs on a thread following allegations of forgery and perjury levelled against him by the Attorney-General in his involvement in the 2020 parliamentary elections.

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