Buem Member of Parliament (MP), Kofi Adams, says the Electoral Commission (EC) is not a complainer in the trial of the Assin North MP, James Gyakye Quayson.
According to Mr Adams, the EC knows that the MP went through the requisite legal processes pertaining to the renunciation of his Canadian citizenship before contesting the seat in the 2020 election.
According to him, when the MP swore the oath to assume office upon his election, he did so as a Ghanaian.
“They saw everything about it and still thought that he was qualified to contest that election. That is why the Electoral Commission is not a complainer. That is why the Electoral Commission is not saying that they have been deceived by anybody because they were never deceived.
“When he swore the oath on the dawn of 7th January 2021, he swore the oath as a Ghanaian,” he said on JoyNews’ AM show on Thursday.
According to the politician, in the wake of reports on the citizenship status of the MP in Assin North, the authorities in the central region noted that it was an issue above their involvement.
They later referred it to the Chair of the EC, Madam Jean Mensa who then formed a committee also involving legal practitioners to examine the reports and documentation on Mr Gyakye Quayson’s identity, he said.
The documents, he said included the renunciation certificate of the MP. Mr. Adams said, the committee, having verified all the documents, saw that Mr. Gyakye Quayson was qualified to contest.
James Gyakye Quayson, a candidate for the NDC, recently lost his position as the constituency’s MP after a court determined that he ran for the seat in the 2020 election while holding dual citizenship, which is a status that is illegal for anyone to hold in order to occupy a public office.
The seat was subsequently declared vacant for which a by-election was held.
In the wake of the court case on the identity of Mr Gyakye Quayson, the NPP capitalized on it to campaign that he could not serve the constituency should he be imprisoned.
Experts explained that such a strategy could go against the NPP themselves, as the youth of the constituency might start to believe that the candidate is being persecuted.
Having won the seat by a great margin, Mr Gyakye Quayson has been sworn in as an MP but will continue to go to court until the case is concluded.
Meanwhile, people are calling for the discontinuation of the court process for the sake of democracy.
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