The Supreme Court has dismissed the latest review application filed by the embattled Assin North Member of Parliament, James Gyakye Quayson.
The legislator, who has been stripped of all his privileges as an MP, wanted the apex court to rescind its decision barring him from performing parliamentary duties.
Per the 5-2 majority decision, the apex court said that restraining Mr. Quayson for a few weeks for the substantive case to be determined “will not occasion any irreparable loss or damage to applicant or anyone.”
This decision was taken after a petition brought before the apex court by Michael Ankomah-Nimfah, a resident of Assin Bereku in the Central Region.
On Tuesday, 14 June 2022, the review panel of nine presided by Justice Jones Dotse unanimously dismissed the application on the grounds that the applicant (MP) did not meet the threshold for the court to exercise its discretion in his favour.
Counsel for the restrained MP, Tsatsu Tsikata, who moved the motion, argued that the court wrongly assumed jurisdiction when it considered issues regarding the validity of a parliamentary election and went on to restrain the MP.
It was the case of the legislator that the apex court committed “errors of laws” that had occasioned a grave miscarriage of justice against the people of Assin North, as well as himself.
Opposing the application, counsel for the petitioner, Frank Davies, insisted that the legislator had not raised any critical issue to warrant a review in his favour.
The Deputy Attorney General, Diana Asonaba-Dapaah, also opposed the application and indicated that the applicant failed to clear the grounds provided by the Supreme Court Rules for the grant of reviews.
The earlier panel had Justices Jones Dotse, presiding, with Agnes Dordzie, Nene Amegatcher, Prof. Henrietta Mensah Bonsu, Mariama Owusu, Gertrude Torkornoo, and Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi, as members.
Justice Prof Nii Ashie Kotey and Justice Amadu Tanko were the two new judges added to the earlier panel of seven to hear the review.
How it all started
A private citizen and a resident of Assin Berekum, Micheal Ankomah Nimfah, filed a suit at the Cape Coast High Court challenging the qualification of Mr Quayson as the MP for the area.
The plaintiff, a mason, averred that when Mr Quayson filed his nomination, he was still holding onto his Canadian citizenship and failed to denounce his citizenship as required by law.
Ghana’s laws bar dual citizens from holding public offices in Ghana.
In freezing the MP’s right to be in Parliament, the judge said: “the allegation contained is of grave nature, and he could not hold himself as MP.”
Also, the NDC MP-elect did not have the renunciation certificate to present before the court to confirm that he had indeed renounced his Canadian citizenship.
Although court documents showed the MP received his certificate on 26 November, at the time he filed his nomination, he did not have the requisite qualification.
NPP strategy
On 23 December, 2020, the governing New Patriotic Party sought to trigger a by-election by challenging the eligibility of James Quayson to contest in the Assin North parliamentary elections, but he won.
Legal practitioner, Gary Nimako, asked the Ghana Immigration Service to confirm if the NDC MP-elect had renounced his Canadian citizenship before the 7 December parliamentary elections.
Cape Coast High Court Ruling
In the judgment on 28 July, 2021, the court said the MP who was dragged to court weakened his case when his renunciation certificate date showed 26 November, 2020, less than two weeks before the 7 December, 2020 elections.
Per court records, Mr Quayson had two citizenship certificates at the time of filing.
He still had his Canadian citizenship when he filed for parliamentary elections between 5 October and 9 October, 2020, meaning the NDC MP was not qualified when he applied to compete for the Assin North seat.
The trial judge Justice Kwasi Boakye also mentioned that it would be a scar and a blot on the country’s legal jurisprudence if the error in the December 2020 parliamentary polls is allowed to stand.
The court also said it would be a cancerous tumour in Ghana’s elections if Mr Quayson is allowed and continues to hold himself as Assin North MP.
In conclusion, the judge said the MP had violated certain constitutional provisions and other statutory provisions that guide Ghana’s elections. Therefore, a need for a fresh election to be held.