Parliament has declared the Assin North Parliamentary seat vacant.
This followed a call from Attorney General Godred Yaw Dame to the Speaker of Parliament after a ruling of the Supreme Court on the Assin North election petition.
The Supreme Court ordered Parliament to expunge the name of James Gyakye Quayson from its records.
A letter dated Monday, May 29, 2023, and signed by the Clerk of Parliament, Cyril Kwabena Oteng Nsiah notified the Electoral Commission (EC) of the vacant seat and the requisition to conduct a by-election
The letter reads: “In the exercise of the power conferred and the duty imposed on the Clerk to Parliament by section 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana (Amendment) Act, 1996 (Act 527), I, Cyril Kwabena Oteng Nsiah, Clerk to Parliament do hereby formally notify you of the occurrence of a vacancy in the Assin North constituency necessitated by the Judgement of the Supreme Court dated 17th May 2023 vide Writ No. J1/11/2022 issued in respect of James Gyakye Quayson in the case of Michael Ankomah Nimfah vs James Gyakye Quayson, The Electoral Commission of Ghana and The Attorney General and request you to take appropriate consequential action as required by law.”
The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, ordered Parliament to expunge James Gyakye Quayson’s name from its records after it ruled he failed to renounce his Canadian citizenship at the time of filing his nomination forms to contest the 2020 Assin North parliamentary elections.