Four Members of Parliament of the opposition National Democratic Congress, NDC, are facing legal challenges on a number of issues.
Two of them are before the courts with respect to the processes that led to the election into office in the 2020 Parliamentary elections.
The other is before an Accra Circuit Court for his role in a protest that he led in his constituency but which resulted in public order and vandalism concerns according to the Ghana Police Service. The fourth is facing corruption charges.
A brief of the respective cases.
Dorcas Affo-Toffey MP for Jomoro is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by a Sekondi High Court on December 6, 2021. Reports say the presiding judge, Sedina Agbemava, citing the MP’s failure to attend the court sitting on Monday, December 6, 2021, as the basis for the warrant.
The qualification of Affo-Toffey to represent the people of Jomoro in Parliament is being challenged in a case in which she has been sued for allegedly possessing dual citizenship prior to her contesting in the 2020 election.
A contempt case was filed against the MP by one Joshua Emuah Kofie, a resident of Nuba-Mpataba in the Jomoro Constituency when Madam Tooffey reportedly failed to deposit with the court registrar documents supporting the renunciation of her alleged Ivorian citizenship as ordered by the Sekondi High Court.
Although the MP filed for a stay of execution of the High Court’s order, the court dismissed the application in July this year.
James Gyakye Quayson, MP for Assin North faces a similar case to that of his Jomoro colleague.
A Cape Coast High Court on Wednesday, July 28, 2021, passed a verdict on the election petition against the Assin North MP with the presiding judge, Justice Kwasi Boakye, upholding the argument of a petitioner who contended that James Quayson was not qualified to contest the 2020 elections.
The basis for the ruling was that at the point of filing to contest the elections, the court claims James Quayson had not successfully renounced his Canadian citizenship.
The court ordered him to subsequently desist from holding himself out as the MP for the Constituency but the Police CID suspended a probe into the issue after it emerged in August that he planned to file an appeal against the verdict.
Francis-Xavier Sosu, the MP for Madina was engaged in a back and forth with the Police from late October through to November 2021.
On October 25, 2021, he led a police-sanctioned protest in a part of his constituency but as it wrapped up, police invited him for questioning but he refused, citing Parliamentary responsibilities later that day.
Police have since attempted to arrest him, written to the Speaker of Parliament for his release – which was turned down. He was subsequently hauled before a court where an arrest warrant was issued after he failed to appear a third time.
The court vacated the warrant recently after he appealed and appeared. Meanwhile, he has also sued the Inspector-General of Police and the Ghana Police Service for the enforcement of his basic rights, including the right to freedom of movement and the right to protest and demonstrate among others.
Collins Dauda, the Asutifi North MP and former Works and Housing Minister and four others are currently on bail for willfully causing financial loss to the state.
They were hauled before the courts in respect of the execution of the 5,000 unit housing project at Saglemi, which project was costed at $200 million dollars and started under the John Evans Atta Mills administration.
