Assin North MP urges Supreme Court to dismiss ‘frivolous’ application against him
Member of Parliament (MP) for the Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson, has urged the Supreme Court to strike out an injunction seeking to bar him from representing his constituency.
In a 39-page affidavit in opposition, Mr Quayson said the petition filed by Michael Ankomah Nimfah, was nothing but frivolous, vexatious, an abuse of court processes and in bad faith.
“This court should, with respect, not allow any litigant to act in such bad faith and engage in blatant forum shopping in instituting a new action for the determination of a matter already before another panel of this court and also pending before other lower courts,” he said.
Mr Quayson insists that granting the reliefs sought by the plaintiff would mean denying the people of Assin North their right of representation in the 8th Parliament.
He added that the apex court cannot proceed with the reliefs sought by the plaintiff on mere and unverified allegations of his owing allegiance to a country other than Ghana.
“This is unacceptable forum shopping, and it would set a dangerous precedent if such conduct should be countenanced by this court. Plaintiff is not engaged in a genuine quest for an authoritative interpretation from this court of a constitutional provision,” Mr. Quayson said in his statement dated April 12.
Meanwhile, the apex court will later today (Wednesday, April 13) make a determination on the matter.
This decision firmly rests on the shoulders of Justices Jones Dotse, presiding, with Agnes Dordzie, Nene Amegatcher, Prof. Henrietta Mensah Bonsu, Mariama Owusu, Gertrude Torkornoo, and Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi, as panel members.
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 November 26, at the time he filed his nomination, he did not have the requisite qualification.
NPP strategy
On December 23, 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 December 7 parliamentary elections.