The Supreme Court, which is mandated by the Constitution to interpret this Supreme Law, expressed its opinion on the James Gyekye Quayson matter before it.
The Court was asked by the plaintiff, Michael Ankomah Nimfah for the true interpretation of Article 94 (2a) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. This part of the Law states that, A person shall not be qualified to be a Member of Parliament if he, (a). owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana.
Since the declaration was made by the Apex Court that indeed James Gyekye Quayson was unconstitutionally elected into the office of Member of Parliament, all hell has broken loose in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) camp.
The NDC and its sympathisers are currently at war with the Supreme Court and have cleverly set up a pseudo-New Patriotic Party (NPP) faction which came out to compare Adamu Dramani Sakande’s issue with Quayson’s and justifying the ruling.
The NDC then went ahead to say, yes at the time Quayson was filing his papers with the EC to be able to contest the seat, he was a dual citizen. But since, he became a full Ghanaian before the elections, he qualified to contest.
The Law clearly states that, A PERSON SHALL NOT BE QUALIFIED TO BE A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT IF HE…. What is the true definition of to be qualified and how does this fit in this context?
To be qualified for something means: fitted (as by training or experience) for a given purpose; competent; having complied with the specific requirements or precedent conditions (as for an office or employment); and eligible. Meaning the person must be able, capable, competent and fitted.
Generally speaking, being qualified means that one has the skills, education and experience needed to perform the job. In all this before one could apply for a job or a position, one must prove beyond doubt that he or she has all the requirements demanded, nothing less.
The whole Article 94, which is all about, qualifications and eligibility of MPs MP goes further in 2 (b. ii) that when a person is adjudged or otherwise declared to be of unsound mind or is detained as a criminal lunatic under any law in force in Ghana, he or she is disqualified and cannot be MP.
When James Gyekye Quayson presented himself to the EC and filed his papers to contest the seat, he was a Canadian citizen and therefore was to have been disqualified, there and then.
It is immaterial to argue that he was a Ghanaian citizen before the elections. The EC official who accepted his forms maybe partisan and decided to flout the Law, hoping this will not be exposed.
Now, would the NDC have accepted an aspirant who is insane, mad, to file to contest elections? Assuming that this fellow is undergoing treatment and could soon be declared sane by the psychiatric hospital would the NDC back such a person and allow him or her to filed on the party’s ticket, in their stage of insanity?
Can the NDC explain why it did not present James Gyekye Quayson as parliamentary candidate in 2012 and 2016, when it realized that he was a dual citizen and immediately disqualified him? Why was he allowed to file and contest in 2020 when he had not yet denounced his Canadian citizenship?
In 1993, the Appointments Committee of Parliament disqualified Hon Spio Garbral during his vetting to become a minister of state. He was a dual citizen. Four years later, when Spio denounced his foreign citizenship, he was good to go and became a minister.
Why did the NDC not ask Spio Garbral to regularize his status and become a full Ghanaian citizen before his nomination would be approved, but in the case of James Gyekye Quayson, the NDC made sure he filed to contest elections before his Canadian citizenship was renounced?
The truth has been revealed about Art. 94 (2a) and as truths normally do, this one also hurts. The NDC are badly wounded and are saying that the Supreme Court judges should have come out with a verdict that would unite Ghanaians. Whatever that means, it is clear that the NDC wants a court ruling that suits them even if that ruling is not truthful.
The truth, no matter how painful, no matter how undesirable, must be told. And the Supreme Court has come out with the truth. The NDC must come and tell Ghanaians why the party, disqualified James Gyekye Quayson in 2012 and 2016 for being a dual citizen and denied him contesting on the party’s ticket, but when the same James Gyekye Quayson, came up for the third time in 2020 with the same problem, he was accepted.
Can the NDC go further to explain, why the party disqualified Spio Garbral because he was a dual citizen seeking ministerial appointment, when the MPs could have asked him to renounce his foreign citizenship before his nomination would be approved?
But in the case of James Gyekye Quayson who was not qualified to present himself to stand elections, why was he allowed to go through before he renounced his Canadian citizenship?
Hon Adamu Dramani Sakande was not qualified to file his papers to contest the Bawku Central seat, but he did and got jailed. What happens to James Gyekye Quayson, who also took that similar step?
Hon Daniel Dugan
