• The Clerk to Parliament has indicated that the Speaker cannot declare the Assin North seat vacant
• Lawyers of James Quayson have sent copies of appeal documents to challenge the MP’s annulment
• The High Court in Cape Coast said Mr Quayson annulled his Canadian citizenship few days to the 2020 polls
The Clerk to Parliament, Cyril Nsiah, has said the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, cannot make a pronouncement that the Assin North Parliamentary seat is vacant yet.
The statement by Cyril Nsiah was in response to a letter written to Parliament by the Registrar of the General Jurisdiction Division of the Law Court Complex in Accra to declare the MP’s seat vacant.
The call by the Court Complex followed a judgement by the High Court in Cape Coast, which annulled the December 7 Parliamentary elections at Assin North, on the premises that James Quayson was still a Canadian citizen at the time of filing to contest the polls.
But Mr Nsiah explained that lawyers of the embattled Member of Parliament of the Constituency, James Quayson, had sent certified documents to the august house, indicating an appeal to challenge the judgement of Cape Coast High Court.
Thus the appeal documents available to the Speaker, according to the Clerk, gives him no doubt but to conclude that the matter remains pending in court.
Mr Nsiah added that the Speaker of Parliament on the basis of legality, cannot make a pronouncement on the matter aside from being unable to declare the seat vacant.
“Mr Speaker is not clothed with the legal basis to make a pronouncement on the matter and can thus not declare the occurrence of a vacancy in the House pursuant to the 1992 Constitution and the Standing Orders of the House,” parts of the letter read.
Read the statement below:
