NDC suffers another defeat as court in unanimously dismisses Tsatsu’s application on Assin North

The National Democratic Congress has faced a major set back in its attempt to overturn the ruling of Cape Coast high court which annulled the parliametary results of Assin North.

In will be recalled that, in August this year, the court ruled that the election of James Gyakye Quayson election as MP for Assin North was null and void. The court further directed the MP to stop holding himself as a legistor in Ghana while asking the Electoral Commission to conduct a fresh election to elect a new MP for Assin North.

The MP filed a stay of execution on the ruling while appealing against the judgement by Justice Kwesi Boakye at the Cape Coast Appeals court.

But the Appeals court on Monday dismissed an application for referral to the Supreme Court for interpretation of Article 94(2)(a) of the 1992 Constitution. The court also refused Mr Gyakye Quayson’s application to file additional supplementary grounds of appeal.

The two applications which suffered dismissal were filed by Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata, counsel for the embattled MP

Counsel for the petitioner raised a preliminary objection to the motion for stay of proceedings on the grounds that the Court of Appeal lacked jurisdiction to grant motions for stay of proceedings since C.I. 132 had revoked rules 27A and 28 of C. I. 19 which were the rules upon which the Court of Appeal could grant an application for stay of proceedings.

Counsel for James Quayson, Justin Pwavra Teriwajah, argued that per the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of The Republic v. High Court; ex parte Magna International Transport Limited [2017-2018] 2 SCLRG 1024, the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal to grant an application for stay of proceedings is two-fold: Inherent jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal; and Jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal based on rules 21, 27, 27A and 28 of C. I. 19.

He explained, the Court of Appeal’s power to stay proceedings doesn’t mean that the Court of Appeal can no longer grant applications for stay of proceedings.

He submitted that it only means that the court’s power to grant applications for stay of proceedings is now based only on the inherent jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal.

The panel of three judges unanimously dismissed the application of the applicant for a stay of proceedings.

The judges then advised counsel for the applicant to test the law at the Supreme Court in respect of his contention that despite the revocation of rules 27A and 28 of C. I. 19 by C. I. 132, the Court of Appeal still has inherent jurisdiction to grant motions for stay of proceedings.

If the NDC does not run to the supreme court with the speed of wind, the previous order that annuled the Assin North hold. That means the Electoral Commission is cleared to organise a by election at Assin North.

The NDC is yet to issue an official statement in this latest developments today. We shall be around to report any development that will come out of this.

CitizenOne

From Opera News