Different rulings on Techiman South, Assin North smacks of legal illiteracy – Minority leader

Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu has described as mindboggling the court injunction against Assin North Member of Parliament-elect, James Gyakye Quayson restraining him from holding himself as NDC MP-elect for the constituency over dual citizenship.

According to the Minority Leader, the ruling by the Cape Coast court smacks of legal illiteracy giving a different ruling by a Wenchi Court on the Techiman South Parliamentary elections in a similar instance.

“I pray and I look forward to a Ghana which does not have a different set of laws and rules for NPP, NDC. But the rule of law in all its facet including equality of law is upheld and respected at all times. Different ruling in Techiman to have representation and different ruling in Assin north not to have representation that can only be a manifestation of some legal illiteracy.”

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament-elect for Assin North in the Central Region, James Gyekye Quayson’s dream of joining his 274 colleagues MPs-elect to be sworn-in on Thursday, January 7, 2021, has been shattered at least for now.

This comes after the Cape Coast High Court granted an injunction restraining him from holding himself as NDC MP-elect for the constituency over dual citizenship.

The court reached the decision after a petition against the MP-elect by one Michael Ankoma-Nimfah, a mason and resident of Assin Bereku was filed.

Giving his ruling on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, the presiding judge, Justice Kwasi Boakye said Mr. Quayson was “restrained from holding himself out as Member of Parliament-elect for the Assin North constituency within the Central Region of the Republic of Ghana and further presenting himself to be sworn in as Member of Parliament-elect as such until the final determination of the petition.”

Wenchi High court ruling on MP-elect injunction case

A Wenchi High Court presided over by Justice Frederick Arnold W. K Nawurah, on Tuesday struck out an interim injunction application seeking to restrain Techiman South Member of Parliament (MP) elect, Martin Adjei Mensah Korsah, from being sworn in on Wednesday, January 6, 2021.

Christopher Bayere went to court seeking to restrain Adjei Mensah Korsah, from presenting himself to be sworn in as Member of Parliament, as well as to stop the clerk of Parliament from admitting him into the records of Parliament.

He further asked the court to restrain the Electoral Commission from gazetting the MP-elect.

Lawyers for the Applicant argued that the swearing-in of Adjei Mensah Korsah as the MP for Techiman South is a potential recipe for disaster.

However, Justice Nawurah dismissed that argument saying “granting the interim injunction will deprive Techiman South of representation in Parliament and the swearing-in will create irreparable damage.”