Cape Coast, July 28, GNA- A Cape Coast High Court has restrained James Gyekye Quason, the Assin North Member of Parliament (MP), from holding himself as an MP for the Area.
The court presided over by Justice Kwasi Boakye has, therefore, ordered for fresh elections to be conducted in the Constituency.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday, July 27, asked that an application seeking its supervisory jurisdiction in the case, be withdrawn.
The apex court had stated non-compliance to due process as the reason and the application was subsequently withdrawn by lawyers for the MP, paving the way for the Cape Coast High Court to rule on the matter Wednesday.
The MP’s lawyer, Justin Pwavra Teriwajah had tried without success, to get the Cape Coast High Court hearing the election petition involving his client, to refer to Article 94, Clause (2a) of the 1992 Constitution to the Supreme Court for interpretation.
A five-member Supreme Court presided over by Justice Yaw Apau struck the application out after the MP’s lawyer had withdrawn it.
The judges explained to the lawyer that he should have formally applied to the High Court to refer the said constitutional provision to the Supreme Court for interpretation, and if he refused, there would have been grounds to refer the same to the Supreme Court.
Justice Boakye on Wednesday asked the first Respondent to compensate the petitioner with an amount of 30,000 and the EC 10,000 Ghana cedis
The EC is also to hold a by-election of which Mr Quayson could contest.
Justice Boakye, in the ruling, said the election of the first respondent was illegal, void and was in contravention of article 94 (2) of the Constitution.
That, he held allegiance to the Canadian government as at the time he filed his nomination to contest as a parliamentary candidate for the 2020 general election.
Justice Boakye emphasized that Mr Quayson was not qualified to contest the election because his certificate of denouncing his allegiance was issued in November 2020 but filled his application in October 2020.
He admonished the public who wished to contest for a position in the Country to read and understand the 1992 Constitution governing the country.
A member of the legal team of the petitioner, Nana Boakye afterwards, described the judgement delivered as ‘elaborate, hinged and pivoted on authorities and of the laws of the Country’.
He said that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) believed in the rule of law and there was no way that they would allow bias or favouritism in the petition.
“ We have heard that the NDC is saying we are using some technicalities to mislead the public and I say that statement is false, malicious and an attempt to render the rule of law ineffective but it wouldn’t work” he added.
Mr Ofosu Ampofo, the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), on his part, said they were optimistic that the Assin North seat was and would still be for the NDC.
It would be recalled that a resident of Assin North, Michael Ankomah Nimfah, on January 6, applied for an interlocutory injunction to restrain Mr Quayson from being sworn in or hold himself as MP.
He contended that the MP-elect was not eligible on the basis that at the time he (Quayson) filed his nomination to contest as a parliamentary candidate, he was still a citizen of Canada.
The Act, he argued, was against the express provision of Article 94 (2) (a) of the 1992 Constitution and Section 9(2) of the Representation of the People Act 1992 (PNDCL 284).
Among other reliefs, the applicant wanted the Cape Coast High Court to declare the nomination filed by Mr Quayson as “illegal, void and of no legal effect”.
GNA
