Former President John Dramani Mahama has taken a swing at the Supreme Court and described its recent ruling that barred the Assin North MP, Gyakye Qayson from performing parliamentary duties, as a misrepresentation of justice.
According to him, the representation of the people is at the heart of Ghana’s democracy and therefore any decision that denies the citizenry of representation is a travesty of justice and an affront to our democracy.
The Supreme Court in a majority 5-2 decision on Wednesday, April 13, ruled that Mr Gyakye Quayson can no longer perform parliamentary duties.
The former President in a Facebook post on Thursday, tagged the injunction by the apex court on Mr. Quayson as a deliberate display of disrespect to the country’s democracy.
This is until the determination of the substantive case filed against him at the Supreme Court but Mr. Mahama in his post 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.
“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.
The late Adamu Sakende was sentenced to two years imprisonment for owing allegiance to both Ghana and Burkina Faso at the time he contested election to be a Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, an election 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. 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 rather confident the Court will call for by-elections to be held 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.”