Supreme Court erred in Gyakye Quayson’s case – Justice Atuguba

A former Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice William Atuguba, has criticized the decision by the Supreme Court which nullified the election of James Gyakye Quayson as the MP for Assin North in 2020.

Delivering a lecture today, Justice Atuguba said Article 99 of the 1992 Constitution had preserved post-parliamentary election matters to the High Court with an appeal at the Court of Appeal, and therefore the Supreme Court had no legal basis to entertain the action.

He said the decision by the Supreme Court in the Gyakye Quayson case meant that the apex court had concurrent jurisdiction over parliamentary election petition with the High Court, which was alien to the 1992 Constitution.

According to him, since parliamentary elections were held in over 200 constituencies, the 1992 Constitution could not have envisaged that post-parliamentary election matters should be adjudicated by a centralized court such as the Supreme Court.

The lecture was organized by a civil society organization, Solidare in collaboration with the Department of Political Science of the University of Ghana.

It was on the theme: Protecting our Democracy: The Role of the Judiciary