Even though the Supreme Court (SC) in a unanimous decision has ordered for the name of the embattled National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North Constituency in the Central Region to be removed from the Parliamentary records, the legal team of the party says Mr James Gyakye Quayson can contest an election.
According to the Director of Legal Affairs of the NDC, Mr James Gyakye Quayson is a Ghanaian because he renounced his Canadian citizenship in November 2020 before the general elections.
Mr Abraham Amaliba said this makes him eligible to contest any election as a citizen of Ghana.
He told Accra-based Joy FM’s 6:00 am news on Thursday, May 18, 2023, that “Mr James Gyakye Quayson is eligible to contest any election in the country.”
He explained that the use of Article 94 Section 2 does not come to play because the embattled MP has renounced his Canadian citizenship.
In the same vein, a member of the NDC’s legal team, Baba Jamal, disclosed that the NDC will be presenting the embattled MP as the NDC’s candidate for the by-election yet to be announced by the Electoral Commission.
He told Accra-based Neat FM on Thursday, May 18, 2023.
According to him, Mr James Gyakye Quayson is the NDC’s sole candidate for the upcoming by-election.
The Supreme Court by a unanimous decision ordered Parliament to expunge the name of Mr Quayson as a Member of Parliament.
The Court on Wednesday, 17 May 2023, declared as unconstitutional the election of Mr Quayson as MP for Assin North.
Background:
A resident of Assin Bereku in the Central region, Michael Ankomah Nimfa, dragged Mr Quayson to the court to restrain him from holding himself as MP after a Cape Coast High Court in July 2021 annulled his election as Assin North MP.
The petitioner had prayed the apex court that James Gyakye Quayson’s continuous stay in office despite a High Court Judgment annulling his election offended the constitution, and was not fair to the people of Assin North.
The Cape Coast High Court had ruled that Mr Quayson owed allegiance to another country other than Ghana at the time of filing his nomination forms to contest the 2020 polls.
The embattled MP had been challenging the decision by the high court at the supreme court
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