The court presided over by Justice Kwasi Boakye, on Wednesday, July 28, 2021, ordered for fresh elections to be conducted in the constituency.
Justice Kwasi Boakye ruled that based on the capacity of the petitioner to maintain an action against Quayson, the MPs challenge of his capacity was overruled and explained that its jurisdiction could be invoked in an election petition when the EC conducts a parliamentary election and declares the results of the contest. Thus, he argued the Court’s jurisdiction was properly invoked.
Earlier, Lawyers for the Member of Parliament for Assin North, Joe Gyaakye Quayson have withdrawn an application seeking to invoke the supervisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to interpret certain constitutional provisions.
The MP’s lawyer, Justin Pwavra Teriwajah had tried without success, to get the Cape Coast High Court to hear the election petition, involving his client, to refer to Article 94, Clause (2a) of the 1992 Constitution to the Supreme Court for interpretation.
A five-member Supreme court presided over by Justice Yaw Appau, struck the application out after the MP’s lawyer had withdrawn it.
The NDC MP, Quayson polled 17,498 votes as against 14,793 by the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP’s) Ms Abena Durowaa Mensah, in the December 7, 2020 parliamentary election.
However, on December 30, 2020, a resident of Assin North, Michael Ankomah-Nimfah, filed a parliamentary election petition at the Cape Coast High Court challenging the eligibility of Quayson to be an MP.
He contended that the MP was not eligible on the basis that at the time he [Quayson] filed his nomination to contest as a parliamentary candidate, he was still a citizen of Canada.