The Full Supreme Court judgement in Gyakye Quayson case

The Supreme Court has released the official document in which it declared as unconstitutional the election of James Gyakye Quayson as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North in the Central Region.

This is after a seven-member panel of the apex court ordered Parliament to expunge the name of Mr Quayson from its records.

Presiding Judge, Justice Jones Dotse on Wednesday, May 17, ruled that the Electoral Commission (EC) acted unconstitutionally in allowing him to contest the 2020 parliamentary elections without proof of him renouncing his Canadian Citizenship.

This was after a case was filed by a resident of the constituency Michael Ankomah Nimfah.

Mr Nimfah had asked the court to rule that upon a true and proper interpretation of Article 94(2)(a) of the Constitution, 1992 of Ghana at the time Mr Quayson filed his nomination form in October 2020 to contest the 2020 Parliamentary elections for the Assin North Constituency, he was not qualified to contest a member of Parliament.

This provision of the constitution provides that a person shall not be qualified to be a member of Parliament if he owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana.

The court in a unanimous decision thus ruled that Mr. Quayson was not qualified at the time of filing his nomination forms.

It further held that the EC allowing him to contest when he had not shown evidence of renunciation of his citizenship of Canada is unconstitutional.

It further declared that his election was unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect.

His swearing-in was equally declared to be unconstitutional with Parliament ordered to expunge his name from its records.

The case was heard by Justices Jones Dotse, Nene Amegatcher, Mariama Owusu, Gertrude Torkonoo, Prof Henrietta Mensah Bonsu, Emmanuel Kulendi and Barbara Ackah Ayensu.

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