Alban Bagbin
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, says he cannot declare the Assin North seat vacant because the case of James Gyakye Quayson, the embattled Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, remains ‘subjudice’ and inconclusive by the court.
According to him, he received “certified true copies of documents” from the lawyers of James Quayson filed in respect of an appeal against the judgment of the Cape Coast High Court and an application for stay of execution of the said judgment by the court.
A bailiff from the Law Court Complex in Accra, on August 31, 2021, had served the Clerk to Parliament, Cyril K. O. Nsiah, a declaratory order from the High Court, Cape Coast, asking the Speaker to declare the Assin North seat vacant.
On July 28, 2021, the Cape Coast High Court ordered for fresh election to be conducted in the Assin North constituency after annulling the results of the 2020 parliamentary election in the area, indicating that the NDC Member of Parliament (MP), James Gyakye Quayson, violated constitutional provisions and other statutory provisions guiding the country’s elections.
The Speaker, responding in a letter written on his behalf by the Clerk to Parliament, said on the face of the certified true copies received from the lawyers of the MP, James Quayson, filed in respect of an appeal against the judgment of the Cape Coast High Court and an application for the stay of execution of the said judgment of the High Court, he could not declare the seat vacant.
According to him, the matter in question is still subjudice and has thus not been concluded by the courts.
“That in the circumstances, 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,” the letter said.
The letter reminded the court of the provisions of Article 117 of the 1992 Constitution with regard to the service of processes coming from any court or place out of Parliament on the Speaker, or a member or the Clerk to Parliament and the circular from His Lordship the Chief Justice dated February 22, 2021 titled, “Enforcement of Articles 117 and 118 of the Constitution Immunity from Service of Process and Arrest.”
“Mr. Speaker further noted in his Formal Communication on the matter on the 9th June 2021 that when Parliament is on recess and a Speaker, Member of Parliament or Clerk to Parliament is in the precincts of Parliament, there is a presumption that the Speaker, Member of Parliament or Clerk to Parliament is attending to the business of Parliament, and cannot be served a process within the precincts of Parliament.”
Speaker Bagbin admonished that the constitutional provisions, the circular from the Chief Justice and his Formal Communication on the enforcement of Articles 117 and 118 be respected and complied with by court registrars and bailiffs to ensure the mutual respect and balance of the legislature and judiciary as arms of government.
By Ernest Kofi Adu