Asiedu Nketiah 'smuggled' in Gyakye Quayson despite disqualification by NDC in 2020 – Koku Anyidoho

Former Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress, Samuel Koku Anyidoho has alleged that the party’s former General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah vetoed the approval of Gyakye Quayson as a parliamentary candidate after the party had initially disqualified him.

According to Anyidoho, Gyakye Quayson prior to the 2020 election had been disqualified from contesting in the Assin North NDC primaries in 2012 and 2016. He was subsequently disqualified in 2020 but was approved unilaterally by Asiedu Nketiah due to the personal relationship between the two and in Anyidoho's view, the parochial interest of the former scribe turned National Chairman.

“In 2020 Gyakye Quayson was disqualified again and Asiedu Nketiah using his own will approved him. You know why? Because Gyakye Quayson lived in Canada for about 41 years, Aseidu Nketiah’s family also lived or lives in Canada. I live the rest of the equation for you to answer.

“…Because of greed and individual selfish interest, he wants to collapse the NDC for his personal relationship with Gyakye Quayson. It is about his own benefit. Everything is about what he can get whenever he travels to Canada,” Koku alleged in an interview on Hello FM.

He was compelled by the host to retract his allegations but went ahead to say that “after he [Gyakye Quayson] was disqualified in the Central Region, Asiedu Nketiah still used the backdoor and allowed Gyakye Quayson to contest. When that happened, the people in the Constituency wrote to the headquarters raising concerns about his eligibility. He dismissed the petition and the long and short of it is where we are now.”

The Supreme Court of Ghana recently issued a ruling that declared Gyakye Quayson's election as a Member of Parliament in 2020 as unconstitutional, null, and void.

According to the Supreme Court, Gyakye Quayson held Canadian citizenship at the time of filing his nomination as the NDC's parliamentary candidate in 2020.

The court's ruling led the Clerk of Parliament to declare the Assin North seat vacant.

Subsequently, the Electoral Commission has scheduled a by-election in Assin North for June 27, 2023, following the declaration by the Clerk.

Meanwhile, the NDC has stated its intention to re-present Gyakye Quayson as its candidate for the upcoming election, despite a criminal process brought against him in relation to his 2020 election contest.

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GA/SARA