The Supreme Court has ordered James Gyakye Quayson, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), to resign as a legislator.
The court also barred him from appearing in Parliament or doing anything as an MP, according to a 5-2 majority judgment.
The injunction against the MP will remain in effect until the outcome of a lawsuit contesting Mr. Quayson's election as a member of Parliament.
Background
On December 7, 2020, parliamentary election, Mr. Quayson received 17,498 votes, compared to 14,793 for Ms. Abena Durowaa Mensah of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Mr. Ankomah-Nimfah filed a parliamentary election petition in the Cape Coast High Court on December 30, 2020, questioning Mr Quayson's eligibility to be an MP.
Following that appeal by Mr. Ankomah-Nimfah, the Cape Coast High Court ruled Mr. Quayson's election illegal on July 28, 2021, on the grounds that he owed allegiance to a nation other than Ghana, in violation of Article 94(2) of the 1992 Constitution.
The court reasoned that because Mr. Quayson had not relinquished his Canadian citizenship when he filed to run for MP, he was not competent to be a legislator.
Justice Kwasi Boakye presided over the court, which ordered the EC to not recognize him as an MP. The MP filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal in Cape Coast, but on March 22, the country's second-highest court dismissed it because it did not follow the norms of the court.