Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, has asked the Supreme Court for clarification over its order for Parliament to remove James Gyakye Quayson’s name from its records as the former Member of Parliament for Assin North.
This comes after some lawmakers voiced worries about how to carry out the Supreme Court’s judgment because the house’s standing rules do not clearly outline how to proceed with such a mandate.
The Speaker of Parliament responded to the situation by stating that all activities the ousted Assin North MP had been involved in since January 2021 would be put on hold until decisions about the future were made.
“What just happened is compelling proof that clarity is required. Remember that the order is based on a number of court declarations; it was not issued in a vacuum. Before the order, there had been four prior declaratory judgments. The other declaratory judgments ruled that the member’s election was improper. It was therefore meaningless and without impact.
The order made no mention of the Speaker expunging [his name]. It does not state that any Member of Parliament or Clerk should remove [the name], only that the Parliamentary institution should. So, the directive must be followed by that institution. It is only via collective reasoning that the institution will be able to carry out the directive. And only at a sitting where members are given time to consider it is that done.
“I don’t want to exercise any authority that isn’t expressly stated in any statute. As a result, I did hint at and bring up the need for clarity to a few Supreme Court justices, he continued.
Background
The Supreme Court in May 2023 ordered Parliament to remove James Gyakye Quayson’s name from its records as the Member of Parliament for Assin North.
Parliament then declared the seat vacant which paves the way for a by-election on June 27.
The Supreme Court determined that Mr. Quayson lacked the necessary qualifications to run in the Assin North Constituency for the 2020 parliamentary elections on October 9, 2020.
The Electoral Commission had let Mr. Quayson to run for office despite the fact that he had not provided evidence of giving up his Canadian citizenship, the court decided.
The Court further declared that Mr. Quayson’s election to the Assin North Constituency as a Member of Parliament was unlawful.
According to the unanimous decision of the 7-member Court, “the qualification of holding only Ghanaian citizenship must be present at the time of nomination, and not any date thereafter.”
In addition, the Court ruled that “any person, who has obtained citizenship of another country other than Ghana, and who files for nomination with the Electoral Commission to contest election as a Member of Parliament will not be qualified to contest elections unless and until they show a record from the alternate State that they no longer hold the citizenship of that State as at the date of filing their nominations with the Electoral Commission.”
“Mr. Quayson was ineligible to serve as a Member of Parliament at the time he filed his nomination papers, at the time he stood for election, and at the time he was declared as elected Member of Parliament on October 9, 2020,” according to the law.
“This court has to, therefore, reiterate its earlier conclusion that the qualification of holding only Ghanaian citizenship must be present at the time of nomination, and not any date thereafter – in this case by 9th October 2020”.
“Since the 1st defendant had not received his certificate of renunciation as a Canadian citizen as of 9th October 2020, then he was not qualified to be a Member of Parliament at the time that he filed his nomination papers, at the time he stood for elections, and at the time he was declared as elected Member of Parliament, because he owed allegiance to another country as at 9th October 2020, the date when he should have satisfied the qualification criteria”.
