‘Assin North MP’ makes fresh demands

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Restrained Assin North Member of Parliament, James Gyakye Quayson, has written to the Supreme Court requesting that it hears his case before it proceeds on vacation.

The Apex Court is due for vacation on August 1 and is expected to resume sitting after the last day in September.

The Court on July 12 adjourned the case involving Mr Quayson indefinitely.

This was after it had heard a request by Mr Quayson that he should be permitted to file documents justifying why the case that gave rise to the injunction against him must be thrown out.

It will be recalled that the Court on April 13 restrained Mr Quayson from holding himself as a Member of Parliament for the Assin North constituency.

A Cape Coast High Court in July, 2021 nullified the election of Mr Quayson after it found he owed allegiance to Canada at the time of filing his nomination forms to contest the polls.

Michael Ankomah Nimfah, a resident of the constituency who filed this election petition in January 2022, initiated another action at the Supreme Court.

He urged the Court to give effect to the Cape Coast High Court judgement and prevent a further breach of the constitution by restraining the MP. Even before the court will determined this issue substantively, Mr Nimfah asked that the legislator is restrained. This was granted by the court.

Lawyers for the restrained MP have since been pushing to have this set aside. They pushed for a review of the Supreme Court ruling that granted the injunction. This request failed on June 14, 2022, when the court maintained the injunction.

The lawyers are now pushing for the substantive case that gave rise to the injunction to be thrown out. Portions of a letter written to the Supreme Court Registrar by lawyers for the MP described the Assin North situation as urgent and requiring attention.

“We have filed our supplement to the statement of case today. In view of the obvious urgency of this case, particularly its significance for the representation in Parliament of Ghanaians in the Assin North Constituency, we respectfully ask that the case be listed before the vacation,” the letter, signed by a member of the legal team Justin Teriwajah, noted.