In order to inform it of the vacancy in the Assin North constituency, Parliament wrote to the Electoral Commission (EC).
The letter, dated May 29, 2023, was signed by Cyril Kwabena Nsiah, Clerk to Parliament, and sent to Jean Mensa, Chairperson of the EC.
He said that the Supreme Court's (SC) ruling from May 17, 2023, had made the notice necessary.
In light of this, he asked the EC Chairperson to take the necessary legal action.
I, Cyril Kwabena Oteng Nsiah, now formally inform you of the occurrence of, in accordance with the authority granted to and the obligation imposed on the Clerk to Parliament by Section 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana (Amendment) Act, 1996 (Act 527), a vacancy in the Assin North seat that was caused by the Supreme Court's ruling, according to the letter.
According to Section 3 of Act 527, "whenever a vacancy occurs in Parliament, the Clerk of Parliament shall notify the Electoral Commission in writing within seven days after becoming aware that the vacancy has occurred, and a by-election shall be held within thirty days after the vacancy occurred, except where the vacancy occurred through the death of a member, in which case the by-election shall be held within sixty days after the occurrence of the vacancy."
SC's decision
On May 17, 2023, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in the matter of Michael Ankomah Nimfah v. James Gyakye Quayson, the Electoral Commission (EC), and the Attorney General.
James Gyakye Quayson, a member of the National Democratic Congress, should no longer be listed as a serving member of parliament.
The court determined that Mr. Quayson's entire election process—including the submission of nomination papers, the actual election, and the swearing-in—violated Article 94(2)(a) of the 1992 Constitution, which prohibits a person with dual citizenship from running for office.
The court reasoned that Mr. Quayson was ineligible under Article 94(2)(a) of the Constitution because he had not relinquished his Canadian citizenship as of the time he submitted his candidature paperwork in October 2020 to run for the Assiniboine North seat.
The court went on to rule that the EC had also broken Article 94(2)(a) of the Constitution when it gave Mr. Quayson permission to run for office.
"Upon the true and proper interpretation of Article 94(2)(a), the decision of the second defendant [the Electoral Commission] to permit the first defendant [James Gyakye Quayson] to contest the parliamentary election of Assin North when the first defendant had not shown evidence of the cancellation of his citizenship of Canada is an act which is inconsistent with and violates Article 94(2)(a) of the 1992 Constitution," the court ruled.
As a result, the court ruled that Mr. Quayson's election and swearing-in as an MP were illegal, invalid, and without legal standing.
The Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, participated in the examination of Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, the nominee for chief justice, on May 26, 2023.
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