A former Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice William Atuguba, has criticised the decision by Supreme Court which nullified the election of James Gyakye Quayson as the MP for Assin North in 2020.
Delivering a lecture today, Justice Atuguba said Article 99 of the 1992 Constitution had preserved post parliamentary election matters to the High Court with appeal at Court of Appeal, and therefore the Supreme Court had no legal basis to entertain the action.
He said the decision by the Supreme Court in the Gyakye Quayson case meant that the apex court had a concurrent jurisdiction over parliamentary election petition with the High Court, which was alien to the 1992 Constitution.
According to him, since parliamentary elections were held in over 200 constituencies, the 1992 Constitution could not had envisaged that post parliamentary election matters should be adjudicated by a centralised court such as the Supreme Court.
The lecture was organised by a civil society organisation, Solidare in collaboration with the Department of Political Science of the University of Ghana.
It was on the theme : Protecting our Democracy : The Role of the Judiciary.