Deposed Member of Parliament for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson, has declared his intention to contest the constituency’s parliamentary by-election on June 27th, 2023.
According to Quayson, he is determined to continue serving the good people of the Assin North with all his heart, soul, body and the resources he can muster for the benefit of constituents.
The embattled former MP explained his roots in the Assin North Constituency run deep and will take every opportunity to serve and meet the needs of the people.
James Gyake Quayson declared his intention in a statement dated June 1.
The Assin North seat was declared vacant following a ruling by the Supreme Court that the MP’s election in the 2020 election was unconstitutional because he also had Canadian citizenship when he was elected.
The court by a unanimous decision ordered Parliament to expunge the name of James Gyakye Quayson from its records as a Member of Parliament for the Assin North constituency.
Parliament subsequently carried out the Court’s directive and declared the Assin North seat vacant.
The House also informed the Electoral Commission (EC) of the vacancy, which is preparing to conduct a by-election to elect a representative for the constituency.
James Quayson, however, argues he renounced his Canadian citizenship in December 2019 and returned to Ghana to serve the people of Assin North.
He said, “When I declared on my Nomination Forms in October 2020 that l owed no allegiance to any country other than Ghana, that was, indeed, the truth.”
“To date, no one has provided any evidence that I owed allegiance to Canada at the time I filed my nominations and when I was elected and sworn in as Member of Parliament.”
According to him, those who petitioned the EC to allege he owed allegiance to Canada were invited to provide evidence but failed present any proof.
The EC, he said, then cleared him fit and qualified to contest the Assin North Parliamentary seat and was elected with a resounding victory.