Review application of Supreme Court order on Quayson will depend on reasoning of the court - Amaliba

The Director of Legal Affairs of the Abraham Amaliba has said that the party would file an application against the Supreme Court order to Parliament to remove the name of Assin North Member of Parliament James Gyakye Quayson from the records of the legislature but that will depend on the reasoning that the apex court will give on June 7.

Mr Amaliba said this when he was commenting on the decision of Parliament to notify the Electoral Commission (EC) of a vacancy in the Assin North Constituency.

A letter written to the Commission by the Clerk on Tuesday, May 30 said “In the exercise of the power conferred and the duty imposed on the Clerk to Parliament by Section 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana (Amendment) Act 1996 (Act 527),  I Cyril Kwabena  Oteng Nsiah, Clerk to Parliament do hereby formally notify you of the occurrence of a vacancy in the Assin North Constituticny necessitated by the Judgement of the Supreme Court dated 17th May 2023 vide Writ No.

J1/11/2022 issued in respect of James Gyakye  Quayson in the case of Micaheal Ankomah Nimfah vrs James Gyakye Quayson, the  and the Attorney General request you to  take appropriate consequential actions as required by law.”

The Supreme Court ordered Parliament to remove the name of Assin North Member of Parliament, James Gyakye Quayson, from the records of the Legislature.

The apex court on Wednesday, May 17 unanimously ruled that the name of Gyakye Quayson, should be expunged from the records of Parliament.

This was after plaintiff Michael Ankomah Nimfah filed an application early this year, seeking among others, a true and proper interpretation of Article 94(2)(a) of the 1992 Constitution.

He sought to invoke the original jurisdiction of the apex court of the land to declare the election of Mr Gyakye Quayson as unconstitutional.

Article 94(2)(a) of the 1992 Constitution states: “A person shall not be qualified to be a member of Parliament if he owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana.”

Speaking on the Ghana Tonight show on TV3 Tuesday May 30, Mr Amaliba said “It appears that the Attorney General who is championing this is running ahead of himself.

“But the party is also poised for the by-election and the party is preparing for the by-election.

“On the specific issue of whether there will be an application for review that will be dependent upon the reasoning of the court and so we await for the reasoning of the court on the 7th of June and then from there, we can now know whether we are going for a review or not.”