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Social media users react to Assin North by-election

Social media is in a split over the Cape Coast High Court ruling to have parliamentary bye-election in Assin North.

The ruling is the latest twist in a criminal dual citizenship case against the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North, James Quayeson.

The NDC MP was dragged before the court for holding himself up for election even as he held Canadian citizenship.

On July 28, 2021, the Cape Coast High Court ruled for a fresh election to be held in the constituency.

It is unclear if the sitting MP would be able to contest in the elections again.

But the court, in its judgment, said the MP weakened his case when his renunciation certificate date showed November 26, 2020, less than two weeks to the December 7, 2020 elections.

Per court records, at the time of filing, Mr. Quayeson had two citizenship certificates.

He still had his Canadian citizenship when he filed for parliamentary elections between October 5 and October 9, 2020.

The court ruling has sparked debate on the social media platform, Twitter, as users expressed their opinion on the case outcome.

Background
Michael Ankomah-Nimfa, a resident of Assin Bereku in the Central Region, filed a petition at the Cape Coast High Court seeking to annul the declaration of James Gyakye Quayson as the MP for Assin North constituency.

The petitioner in his case stated that, at the time the MP was filing to contest the 2020 parliamentary elections, he had not renounced his Canadian citizenship and thus held dual nationality.

He avers, at the close of nominations on October 9, 2020, the Assin MP had not still renounced his Canadian nationality and such act is a complete violation of Article 94 (2)(a) of the 1992 Constitution which states, “A person shall not be qualified to be a member of Parliament if he or she – (a) owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana.”

The National Democratic Congress (NDC), had insisted that their MP is “a full citizen of Ghana who owes no allegiance whatsoever to any other country.

He is a Ghanaian in law and in fact and qualifies to be a Member of Parliament according to the laws of Ghana.

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