Are we also going to have a ‘bye-election’ in Parliament itself to elect a new Speaker?

The indelible role played by the former Hon. James Gyakye Quayson in the election of the reformist and history-making Rt. Hon. Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford (ASK) Bagbin cannot be underestimated. Of course, he performed his constitutionally mandated duty as the Member of Parliament (MP) on behalf of his constituents who duly elected him to represent them in Parliament in 2020.

After a spirited legal ‘fight’ by Hon. James Gyakye Quayson’s team up to the apex court of the land, a shattering verdict on his case was delivered lately.

The ruling of the Supreme Court (SC)’s ruling which has directed Parliament to expunge the parliamentary records of Hon. James Gyakye Quayson is highly baffling, to say the least.

There is no doubt the people of the Assin North have been denied proper representation during the period that the former MP was out of Parliament.

Finally, the written judgment of the SC is out, which is in support of their earlier decision that the parliamentary records of the embattled former MP for the Assin North constituency be expunged.

Regarding the order of the SC to the Speaker to expunge Hon. James Gyakye Quayson’s parliamentary records, I have five questions agitating my mind:

(1) Has this SC’s order included all of Hon. James Gyakye Quayson’s contributions on the floor of Parliament including VOTING ON CRITICAL MOTIONS in the House during his time in Parliament?

(2) Has the removal of Hon. Quayson’s parliamentary records also included that one CRITICAL VOTE that got the current Speaker elected?

(3) Should it NOT be the Electoral Commission (EC) that needs to be castigated or punished by the SC for clearing the ‘victim’ to contest in the first place instead of punishing the victim now?

(4) Since the SC has unanimously ruled that the election and swearing in of the former MP, Hon. Gyakye Quayson, for the Assin North Constituency, was unconstitutional, null and void, and of no legal effect, what happens to Rt. Hon. Speaker, ASK Bagbin’s position now?

(5) Won’t this ruling of the SC have a retrospective effect on the Speaker’s election to cause a ‘bye-election’ in parliament itself since a critical vote made all the difference? If this were the case, I am wondering the kind of national distress that would have been caused.

The swearing-in and participation of Hon. James Gyakye Quayson resulted in the election of the current Rt. Hon. Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford (ASK) Bagbin on the 6th-7th of January 2017.

To have such an experienced legislator in the person of Speaker Bagbin in Ghana’s first hung Parliament enriches the democracy of our nation. There is still room for improvement in this current Parliament, but Ghana is the ultimate beneficiary of having the current Speaker elected!

Thus, despite the SC’s order to his expunge parliamentary records, Hon. Quayson has made an indelible mark on the minds of Ghanaians and parliament as an institution for his contribution to parliament and the nation as a whole.

This upcoming bye-election in the Assin North resulting from the SC’s ruling has finally paved the way for the people of the Assin North to be presented in Parliament. Unfortunately, the people of the Assin North are made to go through a bye-election in less than 2 years before major general elections in 2024.

The constituents of Assin North know exactly who they want to lead them again in Parliament. They should loudly speak on 27.06.2023 and endorse their preferred Parliamentary Candidate accordingly.

It is my considered view that the SC should have gone on the path of balancing public interests instead of ordering the complete removal of the parliamentary records of Hon. Quayson who went through the full process of being vetted by the Electoral Commission (EC), cleared by same to contest, and he fairly won in the end.

This particular case was obviously a political one. It is a right call from the Minority side of Parliament to peruse the written judgment of the SC, especially for the incoming Chief Justice before her final approval by Parliament.

INDEED, HON. QUAYSON’S NAME AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATION WILL NOT BE EXPUNGED IN THE MINDS OF GHANAIANS IN MY OPINION.