The Cape Coast High Court 3 has set January 6, 2021 to rule on an application for injunction which seeks to restrain James Quayson from holding himself out as Member of Parliament-Elect for the Assin North Constituency.
This follows a petition by a resident of the constituency, Michael Ankomah- Nimfah.
The Petitioner, who was represented in court by lawyers Frank Davies and Gary Nimako, alleges that James Quayson was not qualified to contest the December 7, 2020 Parliamentary Elections at the time he filed his nomination.
According to the Petitioner, the NDC MP Elect was a citizen of both Ghana and Canada. This, Mr. Ankomah-Nimfah told the court violates Article 94(2) (a) of Ghana’s constitution.
This case is coming on a historic note. For the first time in the history of Ghana’s Parliament, the two leading political parties who have representatives in the House, have equal numbers, with one outstanding representative, who came to the house as an independent candidate.
While others have tipped the independent candidate from Fomena to exercise the deciding vote when the House is split on equal numbers during voting, others suggest that the delicate Parliament constrict the Executive from having its bills approved.
It even gets worse as the opposition party; NDC keeps mounting challenges on some parliamentary seats currently held by the ruling party.
It is feared that if these challenges succeed, not only will the government struggle to marshal the needed numbers to vote in favour of its bills, Parliament may be superintended by a speaker and a majority leader from the opposition party.
In context, this makes the outcome of Michael Ankomah- Nimfah’s petition crucial as its outcome does not affect only the politics of Assin North Constituency.
Find attached the petition presented to the court.