Prof Stephen Kwaku Asare (Kwaku Azar), a Ghanaian professor of law based in the United States, has questioned the basis of the Supreme Court’s decision to injunct the Assin North MP James Gyakye Quayson from going to Parliament.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (13 April 2022) ruled that Quayson cannot hold himself as the Member of Parliament for Assin North in the Central Region.
The seven-member panel presided over by Justice Jones Dotse reached a 5:2 majority decision to injunct Quayson, whose position as an MP has been in dispute since he assumed his seat in January 2021, from going to Parliament.
Inconsistent ruling
Reacting to the development, Prof Asare said the ruling is inconsistent with Wulensi (Nyimakan case), Ayawaso West Wuogon (Amoo case), and other cases that have sought the injunction of a constitutional officer.
“The plaintiff’s writ by itself should be enough for the SC to arrest the high court judgment. But rather than such an arrest, the SC has injuncted the MP, pursuant to a high court judgment that the prevailing party himself is implicitly alleging was per incuriam because it raised an issue of constitutional interpretation that should have been referred to the SC,” Asare posted on Facebook.
Below is the full post:
Background
The Cape Coast high court restrained James Gyakye Quayson from holding himself as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for Assin North.
On Wednesday 28 July 2021, Justice Kwasi Boakye also ordered for fresh parliamentary elections to be held in the constituency. This followed a parliamentary election petition brought to the Cape Coast high court by Michael Ankomah-Nimfah, seeking to annul the MP’s election.
Quayson polled 17,498 votes, against 14,793 for the New Patriotic Party’s Abena Durowaa Mensah in the 7 December 2020 parliamentary election.
On 30 December 2020, a resident of Assin North, Michael Ankomah-Nimfah, filed a parliamentary election petition at the Cape Coast high court challenging Quayson’s eligibility to be an MP.
He argued that the MP was not eligible because at the time he (Quayson) filed his nomination to stand as a parliamentary candidate, he was still a citizen of Canada. Such an act, he argued, was against the express provision of Article 94 (2a) of the 1992 constitution and Section 9(2) of the Representation of the People Act 1992 (PNDCL 284).
Quayson has since been fighting under the law to set aside the high court decision.
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