Supreme Court Suspends Assin North MP In Controversial Ruling

The Supreme Court has given a majority ruling to suspend the MP for Assin Central, James Gyekye Quayson, from holding himself out as MP.

This controversial ruling comes amidst growing concerns that the Supreme Court and the entire Ghanaian judiciary has become compromised and highly partisan.

Indeed, recently, the National Security Minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah, had cause to caution the judiciary to be discreet in how they always rule cases in “Our favour”. Kan-Dapaah noted that if the alleged bias becomes too obvious, the populace will completely lose faith in the judiciary.

Meanwhile, the ruling which gave advantage to the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) was a 5-2 ruling that saw Justices Jones Dotse, Mariama Owusu, Gertrude Torkonoo, Prof Henrietta Mensah Bonsu and Emmanuel Y. Kulendi taking the majority position as against the Minority position by Agnes Dordzie, Nene Amegatcher.

“The application succeeds. The MP is restrained from holding himself as MP for Assin north and restrained from attending Parliament to conduct business on behalf of the people of Assin north. The restriction remains until the final determination of the substantive matter. We direct that the case hearing be expedited, “Justice Dotse ruled.

But the ruling is seen as controversial as it implies the Supreme Court in this case sat on a motion that ought to have been sent to the High Court as argued by the lawyer for Mr. Gyekye Quayson, Tsatsu Tsikata.

Mr. Tsikata had earlier questioned the basis of the application saying that it was procedurally improper. He insisted the rules of the Supreme Court do not provide for such an injunction application.

Tsikata had argued that a party wanting this remedy ought to instead request the Supreme Court for the Court to decide what steps the party ought to take.

The Cape Coast High Court in July 2021 had nullified the election of Mr. Quayson claiming the NDC MP owed allegiance to Canada at the time of filing his nomination forms to contest the 2020 election.

Michael Ankomah Nimfah, an NPP man in the constituency who filed this election petition in January 2022, initiated another action at the Supreme Court after the High Court’s ruling.

He urged the Court to give effect to the Cape Coast High Court Judgment and prevent a further breach of the constitution by restraining the MP.

Interestingly, the whole drama about Mr. Gyekye Quayson’s supposed dual citizenship was cleared by the Electoral Commission (EC) ahead of the election.

Ahead of the 2020 election, the NPP had raised the allegation that Mr. Gyekye Quayson held Canadian citizenship. The EC had investigated and satisfied itself that the man had renounced his Canadian allegiance before allowing him to contest.

However, after he won the election, the NPP started claiming he held dual citizenship with Assin Central MP, Ken Agyapong vowing that he will never rest until the man is removed as MP.

The Supreme Court’s controversial ruling means that the people of Assin North do not have representation in parliament.