The leadership of Parliament is to study the Appeal Court’s decision upholding the ruling of a Cape Coast High Court’s annulling the Assin North Constituency parliamentary election in the 2020 general elections and decide the way forward.
The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei Owusu, who gave the indication, said the Cape Coast-based Court’s decision was vague and the leadership of the House would have to meet over same.
“What matters therein is the fact to be determined. Whether or not the appeal has been determined and that is a question of fact and not a question of law and I don’t intend that we do that at this moment.
“I will discuss that with leadership and whatever steps we would have to take would be taken (on the ruling),” Mr Owusu, MP, Bekwai said.
His indication followed the objection to the participation of the embattled Assin North NDC MP, James Gyakyi Quayson, in the business of the House yesterday.
The Appeal Court in Cape Coast on Tuesday struck out an appeal by Mr Quayson for non-compliance with court procedures in his attempt to challenge the ruling of the High Court which declared in 2021 his election null and void.
For the first time since the ruling, Mr Quayson stirred controversy when he stormed the Chamber of the House in the middle of proceedings.
Raising the matter, Kwadaso Member of Parliament (MP), Dr Kingsley Nyarko, sought the First Deputy Speaker’s intervention on whether or not the MP could be allowed to be in the chamber following the Court’s decision.
Supporting the application of the Kwadaso MP, the Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea, said the troubled MP must not be allowed into the chamber.
“In the face of this authoritative pronouncements, regarding his capacity to remain here…he is disqualified from coming into this chamber until he is allowed to sit here by a higher court, if not this is a contempt of court.
“This House must not give its blessing to a man who (the court says) has conducted himself improperly. We should not encourage such behaviours,” Mr Akyea said.
But the Minority, who on the day of swearing in of Members on January 7, 2021, defending the eligibility of Mr Quayson, said the application was unfounded because the matter was sub judice.
The Member of Parliament for South Dayi and a member on the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, Nelson Dafeamekpor, said it was misleading for Mr Atta Akyea to say that the appeal filed by the Assin North MP has been dismissed.
“What was dismissed was an interlocutory matter that was set aside on grounds of non-compliance. The substantive appeal is pending,” he explained.
He said it was legally inappropriate for a law making assembly to be discussing a matter before a competent court of jurisdiction and invited the First Deputy Speaker to dismiss the application.
Mr Owusu said leadership would engage on the facts of the ruling and make a determination.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
