Private Legal Practitioner and Managing Solicitor of Paintsil, Paintsil & Company, Kweku Painstil, has challenged assertions that the Supreme Court ruling that bars the Assin North MP, Gyakye Qayson, from performing parliamentary duties, is a travesty of Justice.
Speaking on Newfile on Saturday, he argued that the embattled MP could no longer hold himself as a Member of Parliament so far as the High Court ruling remained unchallenged, in spite of he filing a stay of execution against the Cape Coast High Court.
“The filing of an application for a stay does not operate as a stay,” Mr. Kweku Paintsil said.
He added that, “If you synthesise what the judges said, what the minority said was that the same relief that was being sought at the Supreme Court had crystalised, but they needed to have used a different path to achieve what they wanted in the Supreme Court.
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“Therefore, between the two sides they all agree that once the High Court had concluded that the MP had lost it and that he was not entitled to have contested in the very first place, he ought to be thrown out of Parliament,” he stressed.
The Supreme Court in a majority 5-2 decision on Wednesday, April 13, ruled that Mr. Gyakye Quayson can no longer perform parliamentary duties. This is until the determination of the substantive case filed against him at the Supreme Court.
Former President John Dramani had described the ruling as a “travesty of justice”, stressing that the apex court’s ruling is a deliberate display of disrespect to the country’s democracy.
Mr. Mahama questioned the legality of the ruling when there is a substantive case pending before the Supreme Court on the legitimacy of the Assin North MP. He, thus, suspects that the substantive case before the apex court has already been ruled against Mr. Quayson.
Contrary to Mr. Mahama’s claim, Mr. Paintsil said the ruling is apt once the Cape Coast High Court ruling has not been contested.
He argued that the Supreme Court had nothing to rule on since the Cape Coast High Court had annulled Mr Gyakye Quayson’s membership in Parliament, and he was no longer an MP.
“The only difference is that the majority decided that by reason of the writ that had been put before the Supreme Court, they could rely on it as a basis for granting the interim injunction that they have sought – which indeed has the effect of permanently injuncting him, which is not new to the Law.
He stated that “in application for an interim injunction, if the facts merit it, the court grants a final injunction. So when people say travesty of justice, I don’t understand it.”
Background
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.
Lawyers for Assin North MP, Joe Gyaakye Quayson, filed an application to stay the ruling of the Cape Coast High Court that annulled his election as MP, pending the hearing of his appeal at a Court of Appeal in Cape Coast. During this period, Mr. Quayson carried on his works as an MP.