Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, has described as a travesty of justice the ruling from the Cape Coast High Court annulling the outcome of the 2020 parliamentary elections in Assin North.
He claims it is an attempt to use the courts to determine the balance of power in Parliament but the Minority remains unshaken.
“We don’t want to believe that the courts have been capture but what is clear is that the court is been used to tilt the balance of power and to weaken the time tested the historical notion of checks and balance,” he said.
According to the Tamale South MP, the judge erred in law and in facts.
Addressing a media briefing in Parliament hours after the ruling, Mr Iddrisu warned that cooperation in the House will suffer a setback because of what has happened.
The Court presided over by Justice Kwasi Boakye, ordered for fresh elections to be conducted in the constituency.
The case of the petitioner is that the MP, Joe Gyaakye Quayson, at the time of filing to contest the 2020 parliamentary elections, had not renounced his Canadian citizenship and thus held dual nationality.
He further avers that at the close of nominations on the 9th of October, the Assin MP had still not renounced his Canadian citizenship.
He said Joe Gyaakye Quayson, who still holds himself as the MP, is in complete violation of Article 94 (2a) thus the Court should declare his election null and void.
Handing his judgement on Wednesday, the judge said the MP, Joe Gyaakye Quayson violated constitutional provisions and other statutory provisions that guide Ghana’s elections.
But speaking to the media in Parliament the Minority Leader said impediments put in the way of the MP grounds their suspicion that justice was not served but was rather used to deny the people of Assin North the sanctity of their vote in the last election.
Haruna Iddrisu also said the NDC will use the same legal forum to challenge the decision of the court.
“We are of the firm belief that the judge erred in law and we will prove that but what is important is that justice must be seen to be working and there must strict application of the law,” he added.
Enforcement of the ruling means the NDC numbers in Parliament will be reduced by one putting them at 136 MPs against the governing New Patriotic Party’s 137 MPs.
But the Minority Leader is hopeful this will have not an impact on their role in Parliament.
“In the circumstances, we found ourselves in and the notion that the court is been used to change the parliamentary strength what is certain is that this can affect cooperation,” he warned.
