Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Dame, has stated that Assin North Member of Parliament, James Gyakye Quayson, should face the same legal consequences as the late former Bawku Central MP, Adamu Dramani Sakande.
According to Mr Dame, both cases involve similar constitutional issues concerning eligibility to contest parliamentary elections, and the law should be applied equally regardless of political affiliation.
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He recalled that Adamu Sakande was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment after it was established that he owed allegiance to both Ghana and Burkina Faso at the time he filed his nomination to contest the parliamentary election.
“I think that there ought to be an even application of the law. The same fate that befell Adamu Sakande, who was not qualified at the time nominations were opened, should apply in this case,” Mr Dame said.
He added that if the law was enforced against an NPP member in similar circumstances, it should also apply to an NDC member facing the same constitutional challenge.
Mr Dame’s comments come after the Supreme Court, in a 5-2 majority decision on April 13, ruled that James Gyakye Quayson could no longer hold himself out as the Member of Parliament for Assin North pending the determination of the substantive case before the court.
The legal dispute follows a July 2021 ruling by the Cape Coast High Court, which nullified Mr Quayson’s election after finding that he still owed allegiance to Canada when he filed his nomination forms to contest the 2020 parliamentary election.
The case was later taken to the Supreme Court by Michael Ankomah Nimfah, a resident of the Assin North Constituency, who sought to enforce the High Court’s judgment and prevent what he described as a continued breach of the Constitution.
