James Gyekye Quayson
The Supreme Court yesterday heard how the embattled National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North, James Gyekye Quayson, ordered his bodyguard to manhandle a bailiff of the court who attempted to serve court documents on the lawmaker.
An affidavit of non-service presented by the bailiff, Joshua Baning, detailed how the MP, who had refused to accept a writ which is seeking an injunction against him, ordered the bodyguard to throw the bailiff out of his office.
The court, at the last sitting on February 1, had directed counsel for Michael Ankomah Nimfah, the plaintiff that got the Cape Coast High Court to remove the MP from office, to assist the Registrar of the court to effect a personal service on the MP, after several attempts to serve him through the Clerk to Parliament failed.
The seven-member panel of the court, presided over by Justice Jones Dotse, had asked the Registrar whether the documents were served on the MP as directed by the court.
The Registrar, Mathew Antiaye, replied that they could not serve the MP and read the affidavit of non-service which detailed the bailiff’s ordeal when he attempted to serve the MP.
The bailiff indicated that he went to Mr. Quayson’s office at Job 600 at Parliament House, Accra and upon seeing him, made the MP aware that he was there to serve him with court documents.
He said the MP, however, refused to see him and instead instructed his personal assistant to get him out of the office but he (bailiff) resisted.
The affidavit of non-service indicated that the MP then ordered his bodyguard to throw the court official out of the office and the bodyguard followed through with the instruction.
The Registrar also told the court that a second attempt to serve the MP at his private residence in his constituency also failed.
Another affidavit of non-service read to the court indicated that a bailiff who attempted to effect the service was informed by the MP’s caretaker that he had travelled to Accra and it was not clear when he would return.
Investigation/Action
The panel, presided over by Justice Jones Dotse and assisted by Justices Agnes Dordzie, Nene Amegatcher, Mariama Owusu, Gertrude Torkornoo, Prof. Henrietta Mensah-Bonsu and Yonny Kulendi, directed the Registrar of the court to submit a full report on the assault on the bailiff with supporting documents to the Chief Justice for the necessary investigation and action.
Substituted Service
Frank Davies, counsel for the plaintiff, has indicated to the court that they will consider applying for leave for a substituted service if they are unable to serve the MP by the next court date.
He said attempts were made to serve the MP through Parliament and the addresses on the court documents but both processes proved futile.
The Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, indicated that it is not only via the address endorsed on writ that a party can be served, as that will amount to injustice.
He suggested that the defendant could be served anywhere at all that he finds himself in Ghana.
Justice Dotse agreed that despite the existence of an address on the writ, the party can be served anywhere but added that where there is a statutory privilege that must be taken into consideration.
He urged the parties to read the Representation of the Peoples Law as well as the Constitution and consider the capacity of the MP and his privileges.
The case was adjourned to March 1.
Meanwhile, a writ filled by lawyers for the MP at the Supreme Court seeking an interpretation of Article 94(2)(a) of the 1992 Constitution, which states that “A person shall not be qualified to be a Member of Parliament if he owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana,” has been adjourned to February 10, 2022.
Injunction
A Cape Coast High Court last year found that at the time of filing his nomination to contest in the parliamentary election which he won in December 7, 2020, he held dual citizenship which is against the laws of Ghana.
The fresh writ, filed by Michael Ankomah Nimfah, is seeking the Supreme Court to restrict the MP from holding himself as such after he had been ordered by a Cape Coast High Court to vacate his seat.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak