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The Supreme Court has ordered the Member of Parliament for Assin North on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), James Gyakye Quayson, to stop holding himself as a legislator.
The injunction was placed on the embattled MP Today, Wednesday, April 13, 2022.
A seven-member panel presided over by Justice Jones Dotse, by a 5:2 majority decision injuncted the embattled lawmaker from going to Parliament.
Justices Jones Dotse, Mariama Owusu, Gertrude Torkornoo, Henrietta Mensah-Bonsu, and Yonny Kulendi, were the five justices who granted the injunction application while Justices Agnes Dordzie and Nene Amegatcher dissented.
The court further ordered Mr. Quayson to stay away from going to Parliament let alone engaging himself in duties at the house until the final outcome of the case.
The injunction thus holds until the final determination of a suit challenging the constitutionality of Mr. Quayson’s election as MP is determine.
Background
The Cape Coast high court restrained James Gyakye Quayson from holding himself as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for Assin North.
In 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 by the New Patriotic Party’s Abena Durowaa Mensah in the December 7, 2020 parliamentary election.
However, in 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 (2)(a) of the 1992 constitution and Section 9(2) of the Representation of the People Act 1992 (PNDCL 284).
The Assin North MP is currently facing charges including forgery and perjury. He is also accused of deceiving a public officer and knowingly making a false declaration.
Mr Quayson has since been legally fighting to set this aside with the matter currently pending at the Supreme Court.
