Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak has dismissed claims by the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu that the Assin North parliamentary seat, held by James Gyekye Quayson, is vacant.
He said once the processes such as the Supreme Court and Appeals Court cases have not been exhausted, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu’s claims are mere assumptions.
Mr. Mubarak was reacting to an assertion on Monday by Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, that the Assin North seat automatically became vacant the moment Mr. Quayson failed to prove to the judiciary that he qualified to run as a Parliamentary candidate in the 2020 election.
He said the total number of Members of Parliament is now 274 and not 275.
But reacting to the comment by Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Asawase MP said the latter’s assertion is contrary to parliamentary procedures.
“So find out from the Majority Leader how do we get seats vacant? Has it been referred to privileges and privileges has come back with a report recommending the House voted, therefore, the seat is declared vacant or is it that the court has declared it vacant and has notified Speaker and Speaker has notified Electoral Commission? It is only at those stages that you can say that the seat is vacant…Speaker has said it, times without number, that look, as long as the processes are on and pending, the person still remains a Member of Parliament,” he explained.
He argued that Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu’s reference to Article 97 of the 1992 Constitution in respect of automaticity that renders a seat vacant, is a flawed argument, stressing that until the court proves the MP guilty of the accusations, his seat cannot be vacant.
“I don’t know where he is conjecturing it from…the same 1992 Constitution exquisitely says, until proven beyond reasonable doubt in a court of competent jurisdiction, you cannot pronounce someone guilty. So the things that he is accusing him about the breach of Article 94, are the issues in court, both at the Supreme Court and Appeals Court and they have not been exhausted. So on what basis is he claiming the court has declared him not fit to be a Member of Parliament. But for now, he is a Member of Parliament, he has been coming to Parliament, he’s been attending his committee meetings and paid as a Member of Parliament,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will on April 5, deliver its ruling on an application filed by Assin North MP, James Gyakye Quayson.
The application is urging the apex court to set aside its March 8 ruling that ordered the legislator to file his defence in a case seeking to stop him from performing parliamentary duties.
A Cape Coast High Court in July, 2021 annulled the Assin North Parliamentary elections when it ruled that Mr Quayson owed allegiance to another country other than Ghana at the time of filing his nomination forms to contest the polls.
The MP has since been fighting to set this aside at the Court of Appeal.
