Minority to challenge ruling annulling Assin North 2020 Parliamentary elections

The Minority in Parliament has stated it will context the ruling of a Cape Coast High Court that annulled the 2020 Parliamentary election of the Assin North Constituency.

According to the side, it will use the same legal processes, forums and opportunities available within the 1992 Constitution to make its case.

Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu addressed the media in Parliament on Wednesday and described the ruling as a travesty.

Justice, he said, must not only be done but must manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done.

He expressed worry Ghana’s courts might have been captured and have become forums being used superstitiously to tilt the balance of power and described as repulsive the use of the law courts to chop off the number of seats the minority NDC holds in the legislature.

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He said, “What happened at the Cape Coast High Court regarding the Member for Assin North Constituency is short of using the judiciary to tilt the balance of power and weaken the time-tested historical notion of check and balances.”

“The judge erred both in law and in fact in annulling the 2020 Parliamentary election results and calling for a by-election.”

James Quayson Gyakye, NDC MP for Assin North’s legitimacy had been in contest since he won the 2020 Parliamentary election in December.

The MP was accused of holding a Canadian citizenship when he filed his nomination to contest the 2020 Parliamentary elections.

According to the Minority leader, however, Quayson Gyakye won the Assin North constituency Parliamentary election outright as a citizen born and bred in that community but sojourned to Canada subsequently.

The MP, he said, had renounced his Canadian citizenship and expressly so as far back as 2019 and got his certificate before the elections.

Mr. Haruna noted with shock that even when the Supreme Court advised the defendant and his legal team to file appropriate legal motions for the matter to be referred to the Apex Court, he was denied the opportunity.

According to him, the High Court had surprisingly been locked up even during working hours only to prevent the NDC legal team from filing the needed motions.

That, he said, is a repugnant upfront to Mr. Gyakye’s right to a fair trial guaranteed under article 19 of the 1992 Constitution.

The developments, he said, are very dangerous to the country’s democratic dispensation but stressed his side remains unshaken and unfazed by the judge’s decision.

He expressed the Minority’s resolve to pursue the ruling to the Supreme Court and indicated the seat will remain an NDC seat.

In a quick rebuttal, however, the Majority NPP argued the court has vindicated its position because Mr. Gyakye was invalidly elected.

Majority Whip, Frank Annor-Dompreh, who responded to the Minority argued his side raised this matter on 7^th January before the swearing-in of MPs into the 8^th Parliament.

“Today we have been vindicated because from day one, we had made our point abundantly clear. The member was invalidly elected. Lo and behold, a court of proper jurisdiction has come to make a ruling,” he added.

Frontpageghana.com