Why NDC will not hold parliamentary primaries in Assin North

Constituents in Assin North have not had a fair representation in parliament since Member of Parliament for the constituency, James Gyakye Quayson won the seat.

In the early month of 2021, the petitioner, Michael Ankomah Nimfah went to court to contend that James Quayson held dual citizenship as a Ghanaian and a Canadian at the time of his election, and therefore must be restrained from performing the duties of a Member of Parliament.

In April 2022, the Supreme Court had restrained James Gyakye Quayson from holding himself as the Member of Parliament for the Assin North constituency in the Central Region.

Mr. Quayson was restrained by a ruling delivered by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, April 13, 2022.

“In this case, the 1st respondent had been in parliament from the 7th of January 2021 and despite the order restraining him from holding himself as a Member of Parliament for Assin North Constituency [he] had continued to perform his functions in Parliament without the applicant invoking the enforcement powers of the High Court to deal with him under the Rules of court.”

“In my view, since the 1st respondent is already occupying his seat in parliament, to continue to perform his parliamentary duties for another few weeks to enable this Court to determine this constitutional action currently before us will not occasion any irreparable loss or damage to applicant or anyone,” the court ruling said.

Since this ruling, the Member of Parliament has been restrained from entering the chamber, causing the constituents to have no representation in parliament.

Ahead of the parliamentary election scheduled for May 13, 2023, the party has taken a decision to allow the MP remain as its parliamentary aspirant.

A close source in the NDC told GhanaWeb’s Nimatu Yakubu that, based on this decision, there will no be no parliamentary election in the constituency and the MP will continue with his case.

YNA/WA