Ghanatodayonline.com News, Politics, Health, Education & More
The legal team for the party asserts that Mr. James Gyekye Quayson can run for office despite the Supreme Court’s (SC) unanimous decision ordering the removal of the embattled National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for the Central Region’s Assin North Constituency from parliamentary records.
James Gyakye Quayson, according to the NDC’s Director of Legal Affairs, is a Ghanaian because he surrendered his Canadian citizenship in November 2020, just before the general elections.
According to Mr. Abraham Amaliba, as a citizen of Ghana, this enables him to run in any election.
“Mr James Gyakye Quayson is eligible to contest any election in the country” Lawyer Amaliba stated in an interview with Joy FM.
He clarified that because the troubled MP has relinquished his Canadian citizenship, the application of Article 94 Section 2 is not relevant.
The troubled MP will be the NDC’s candidate for the by-election, which the Electoral Commission has not yet declared, according to a member of the NDC’s legal team, Baba Jamal.
He claims that the NDC’s sole candidate for the impending by-election is Mr. James Gyakye Quayson.
In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court commanded Parliament to remove Mr. Quayson’s name from the rolls of parliamentarians.
The election of Mr. Quayson as the MP for Assin North was ruled unlawful by the court on May 17, 2023, a Wednesday.
After the Cape Coast High Court invalidated Mr. Quayson’s election as the MP for Assin North in July 2021, a resident of Assin Bereku in the Central region, Michael Ankomah Nimfa, hauled him before the court to prevent him from continuing to hold himself out as an MP.
The petitioner had argued before the Supreme Court that James Gyakye Quayson’s continued retention of office notwithstanding a High Court ruling that had declared his election invalid had violated the constitution and been unfair to the residents of Assin North.
At the time he submitted his nomination papers to run in the 2020 elections, Mr. Quayson was found by the Cape Coast High Court to have had loyalty to a nation other than Ghana.
The troubled MP had appealed the high court’s ruling to the supreme court.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
