Supreme Court’s ruling on Assin North MP a ‘travesty of Justice’ – Mahama
Former President John Mahama has described Supreme Court’s ruling that barred the Assin North MP, Gyakye Qayson, from performing parliamentary duties as a misrepresentation of justice.
The 2020 NDC flagbearer, in a Facebook post on Thursday, said the apex court’s ruling is a deliberate display of disrespect to the country’s democracy.
“The representation of the people is at the heart of our democracy. Therefore, any decision that denies the citizenry of representation is a travesty of justice and an affront to our democracy,” Mr Mahama said.
In a majority 5-2 decision on Wednesday, April 13, the Supreme Court 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.
But Mr Mahama has 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.
“I cannot understand how an MP can be restrained from carrying out his duties when the substantive case to give finality to the question of his legitimacy has not been determined.
“Or is it the case that the outcome of the substantive case has been predetermined against him?” John Mahama quizzed.
Meanwhile, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice said the embattled Assin North MP, James Gyakye Quayson, should be made to face the same fate as the former New Patriotic Party’s Adamu Sakende.
Read: Resign and run again for elections – Prof. Kwaku Asare advises Gyakye Quayson
The late Adamu Sakende was sentenced to two years imprisonment for owing allegiance to Ghana and Burkina Faso when he contested the election to be Bawku Central MP, which he subsequently won.
Godfred Dame believes that the cases are the same hence similar principles must be applied, and the law ought to be equally applied in the case of James Gyakye Quayson.
”I think that there ought to be an even application of the law, the same fate that befell Adamu Sakande, who was not qualified at the time that nominations were opened, and we all know what happened to him.
“Adamu Dramani Sakande found himself in a similar situation. As a result, he was not qualified by the time nominations were opened and was subsequently declared ineligible, and, for that matter, his seat was taken away.
“So there has to be an even application of the law. If it happened to Adamu Sakande of the NPP, it should happen to a gentleman of the NDC who finds himself in the same situation.”
However, CDD Fellow, Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, is confident the Court will call for by-elections for the constituency.
As result, he has advised the Assin North MP to officially resign and run for the bye-election.
He further urged the legislator to try and win the election to “show us how wrong we do things and how inconsistent, and how incoherent our jurisprudence has become.”
