Mr James Gyakye Quayson has been sworn into office as the Member of Parliament for the Assin North Constituency.
It comes eight days after he won the Tuesday, June 27 by-election having polled 17,245 votes representing 57.56 per cent of the valid votes cast to beat his closest contender, Charles Opoku of the New Patriotic Party who polled 12,630 votes representing 42.15 per cent.
This is the second time Mr Quayson has taken the Oaths of Allegiance and Member of Parliament in this Parliament; the Eighth of the Fourth Republic.
His earlier status as a lawmaker for the same constituency was cut short by a Supreme Court ruling which declared his December 2020 election as null, void, and of no legal effect.
The seven-member panel of the apex court presided over by now retired Justice Jones Dotsey held that at the time of filing his nomination papers, Mr Quayson was not qualified because he owed allegiance to another country, Canada, contrary to law.
The swearing in ceremony attracted a cross-section of Ghanaians including former President John Dramani Mahama and his running mate in the 2020 elections, Naana Jane Opoku Agyeman, National Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, General Secretary, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey and other national, regional officers and stalwarts of the party.
Also in attendance were the chiefs from the Assin North Constituency led by the Queen Mother of Assin Bereku, Nanahemaa Ntiamoah and the clergy from the area.
The public gallery was filled to capacity by constituents from the Assin North Constituency who had travelled to witness what has been christened “the second coming of Mr Quayson”.
In a celebratory mode, a near-full Minority caucus, all adorned in white clothes, was there to cheer on one of their own as he took the oaths to complete their full complement of 137 members.
A near-empty Majority caucus side of the House, led by Member for Suame, Osei-Kyei-Mensah Bonsu, were also on hand to participate in the swearing in and ultimately, the business of the House.
When the Speaker read the writ of election notice from the Electoral Commission communicating Mr Quayson’s victory and invited him to the the speaker’s dais for the swearing-in, the Minority side went agog as their Chief Whip, Kwame Agbodza, walked the newest member of the House in.
After administering the oaths, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, presented to the returnee MP the 1992 Constitution and the Standing Orders of the Parliament which he said were the tools for the discharge of his duty.
“From today, I will start observing you whether you have these tools to work with anytime you are on the floor,” the Speaker stressed.
In a congratulatory message, the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, described the re-election of Mr Quayson as a victory for democracy despite what he said were “machinations by proxies of the government” to see the back of the lawmaker.
“Mr Speaker, I must commend Hon. Quayson for his courage and resilient spirit; he has prevailed in the face of persecution.”
On his part Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu dismissed allegation of persecution of Mr Quayson and congratulated him for a “momentary victory of a phantasmal character that may not last.”
He described Mr Quayson as the “choice of Assin North that everybody must respect whilst it last.”
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
