Plaintiff forum shopping, manipulating judicial process- Assin North MP to Supreme Court

The Member of Parliament for Assin North, James Gyekye Quayson has through his counsel, told the Supreme Court that the plaintiff in the case seeking to injunct him is engaging in forum shopping and a meer manipulation of the Judicial Process.

He is therefore praying the Supreme Court to disallow the same from turning justice on its head.

The Supreme Court is expected to decide on an injunction application against the MP on Wednesday, April 13, 2022, as to whether he can continue to hold himself as a Member of Parliament, performing his duties or not.

On February 1, 2022, the applicant Michael Ankomah-Nimfah, a private citizen filed a writ seeking the interpretation of Article 94 (2a) and injunction of the Member of Parliament from holding himself as such.

In his statement of case and affidavit in response to the above application, signed by Justin Pwavra Teriwajah, the MP is praying the apex court to strike out the instant action describing same as “frivolous and vexatious, initiated in bad faith and an abuse of the process of the court.”

He further adds that the plaintiff cannot be allowed to” undermine the constitutionally established right of appeal of his by spurious recourse to the Supreme Court, especially since he(the plaintiff) is the very person who has consistently resisted recourse to this court for the interpretation of article 94(2) (a) of the 1992 Constitution.”

Moreover, the statement notes that the decision of the High Court is clearly in error and the ground of error indicated in the Notice of Appeal, including the failure of the court to refer interpretation of the said constitutional provision to the apex court.

Furthermore, he mentions that he applied for a stay of execution of the said High Court judgment, and counsel subsequently filed at the Court of Appeal in Cape Coast, a motion for stay of proceedings and reference to article 94(2) (a) of the Constitution to the Supreme Court for interpretation.

Also, he applied to the Supreme Court for an order of certiorari to quash the ruling of the Court of Appeal after the same refused to make a reference to the apex Court.

Further to the above, the statement indicates that on numerous occasions right from the earliest stages of the case, there has been the need for referral of the interpretation of article 94(2) (a) of the Constitution to the Supreme Court however the plaintiff consistently claimed in response that there was no issue of interpretation.

The Member of Parliament adds that in the decision of the High Court and submissions on his behalf, there has consistently been the fundamental error of supposing that owing allegiance to a country other than Ghana is only about having a second nationality, which is clearly not what is provided for by article 94(2) (a) on a true and proper interpretation.

He maintains that he(Hon James Quayson) was elected by a clear majority of voters in the Assin North Constituency precisely 54.19 percent of the valid votes cast in the 2020 Parliamentary election and was duly sworn in.

Prior to the election, after he filed his nomination, a group petitioned the Electoral Commission challenging his qualification to be an MP per the claim that he owed allegiance to a country other than Ghana.

Furthermore, he states that the MP was invited by the Electoral Commission to appear before its Director of Electoral Services to ascertain the veracity or not of the claim but the complainants were evidently not able to prove that he owed allegiance to a country other than Ghana thus was cleared by the EC to participate in the said election.

The plaintiff subsequently filed an election petition at the High Court at Cape Coast to challenge his election but adds that on July 28, 2021, based on legal arguments only and without trial, the High Court gave judgment in favor of the petitioner.

He notes that the High Court in the said judgment usurped the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in giving an interpretation of article 94(2) (a) of the Constitution.

Therefore he states that what the plaintiff is seeking in this action from the apex court is the same thing he is also seeking from the High Court in the election petition

He concludes that the writ filed by the applicant is simply an abuse of the process of court and is not engaged in a genuine quest for an authoritative interpretation from the apex court of a constitutional provision.

BACKGROUND

In July 2021, the Cape Coat High Court presided over by Justice Kwasi Boakye annulled the Assin North Parliamentary election.

He also restrained Hon James Quayson from holding himself as MP for the Constituency.

This was the Judgment of an election petition filed by a resident of Assin North, Michael Nimfah who challenged the eligibility of Mr. Quayson to hold the office as an MP.

The petitioner also contended that Hon Quayson was not eligible on the basis that at the time of filing his parliamentary nomination, he held citizenship of another country (Canada) in addition to Ghana.

The MP has since the above Judgment of the Court, gone to the Court of Appeal to quash the Judgement of the High Court and in the Supreme Court to challenge a ruling of the Court of Appeal.