The Member of Parliament (MP) elect for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson has cast his ballot in the voting process for the selection of a Speaker for the 8th Parliament of the Fourth Republic.
This is despite a court injunction barring him from holding himself out as a legislator and subjecting himself to be sworn in as the representative of the people of Assin North.
The injunction was granted in a case filed by one Michael Ankomah-Nimfa of Assin Bereku who claims Mr. Quayson holds dual citizenship of Ghana and Canada.
The Clerk of Parliament, Cyril Kwabena Oteng Nsiah, had earlier barred Mr. Gyakye Quayson from taking part in the election process following the injunction slapped on the legislator.
“I was duly served, and I am therefore unable to recognize James Quayson as MP-elect for the purposes of the election of Speaker. I will therefore accordingly proceed in the conduct of this election”, the Clerk stated during the inauguration of the 8th Parliament.
But the decision did not go down well with the NDC MPs who accused the Clerk of being bias.
They insisted that because the MP-elect had not been served with the injunction documents, the Clerk should allow him to take part in the voting process.
“Mr. Chairman, courts don’t determine an elected person in Ghana. The court has the mandate to adjudicate on matters brought before it but the election of Member of Parliament is vested in Ghanaian citizens. We are aware that James Gyakye Quayson of Assin North was duly elected. As far as we know, no court processes have been served on him personally. That is why he is here having registered and having been recognized as a member of the 275 MPs”, leader of the NDC in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu said.
The request was turned down after a heated debate but was later granted with the Clerk warning that Parliament cannot be held responsible for the consequences that may arise from its decision to vote in the process.
Following a restart of the voting process which saw each MP’s name mentioned to move to cast their votes, Mr. Gyakye Quayson was also called up.
He moved to the voting booth and duly voted in the exercise.
