Lawyers for Assin North MP file motion to stay enforcement of High Court ruling

Lawyers for Joe Gyaakye Quayson have requested a stay of execution pending the hearing of his appeal in the Cape Coast High Court.

Lawyers say failure to seek a stay of execution would not only result in irreparable damage and injustice to the residents of Assin North, but would also result in financial consequences for Joe Quayson in the event of a by-election.

On July 28, 2021, a Cape Coast High Court, presided over by Judge Kwasi Boakye, rendered a judgment granting full reparations to the petitioner, Michael Ankomah Nimfah and declared the parliamentary elections for the constituency of Assin North void.

Following this, lawyers on Monday filed a notice of appeal to overturn the High Court ruling that overturned Assin North’s parliamentary elections.

Relying on the grounds of the appeal, lawyers argued that the judge erred in his decision.

The notice of appeal was followed by a request for a stay of execution by Joe Quayson’s legal team.

In an affidavit filed by the besieged MP for Assin North, he alleged that the High Court ruling was clearly in error and that if upheld it would lead to grave injustice, not only to him but to the people of Assin North. who lined up and voted in the 2020 legislative elections.

Mr Quayson said the stay of execution is necessary on the basis of the exceptional circumstances resulting from the many serious errors of law and constitutional violations of the High Court ruling.

“If a stay of execution is not granted until the appeal is decided, it would be tantamount to allowing the High Court to violate the Constitution and the 1992 statutes and to ignore the binding decisions of the Supreme Court with impunity. , thus undermining the fundamental principles of the Constitution. governance and the rule of law from the clearly flawed decision to the hearing of the appeal.

He further argues that if the execution of the judgment is not stayed, the residents of Assin North constituency will not be represented in Parliament for a long period of time.

“As a result of the erroneous ruling of the High Court, a by-election was held, I might, for example, while awaiting the decision of my appeal to this Court of Appeal, be able to apply for an injunction to prevent the 2nd defendant from the publication in the Gazette of any other person as a Member of Parliament for Assin North while I am duly registered as such, giving rise to a multiplicity of lawsuits concerning the representation in Parliament of the population of the constituency of Assin North .

Mr Quayson in his testimony also claimed that if the High Court’s decision is not stayed, it could lead to considerable political tension in Assin North constituency and possible disturbances of the peace.

“That if the decision of the High Court is not stayed and my appeal is successful, as counsel advises and it is true, it is inevitable, the decision of this Court of Appeal on my appeal would be rendered obsolete simply by the passage of time. “

He fears that if the Election Commission holds a by-election in accordance with the High Court ruling and wins his appeal to the Court of Appeal, it could lead to an abnormal situation where there would be two MPs elected for the Assin North Constituency, a situation which will be foreign to the laws of Ghana.