THE CHAIRMAN of US-based group dubbed Diaspora Progressive Movement (DPM), Dr. Lawrence Appiah has warned diasporans who are running to Ghana to aspire for the position of Parliamentary Candidates.
On Wednesday, February 22, 2023 the NationalDemocraticCongress (NDC) has opened nomination for both presidential and parliamentary candidates who would want to contest in the upcoming combined primaries in May this year, 2023.
Article 92 clause 2a of Ghana’s constitution says among other things that a person shall not be qualified to be a Member of Parliament if he/she owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana.
According to him, the NDC lost one of the seats in parliament due to this clause, Comrade Hon. James Gyakye Quayson, former MP for Assin North, unfortunately had to give up his seat because he was bitten by Article 92 clause 2a.
He further cited another case the ruling NPP wanted to take advantage of; Hon Dorcas Affo-Toffey, an MP for Jomoro in the Western Region, had to fight a long battle in court, until recently when she won the case to retain her seat.
In the warning statement the Chairman of Diaspora Progressive Movement (DPM), Dr. Appiah, USA, issued brought up the cases following the upcoming 2024 general elections.
He indicated that, “I am bringing this issue up at this time because NDC is not going to play on the battle field in 2024. As I followed the case of Hon. Gyakye Quayson, I realized that he thought he had a fine case to be a Member of Parliament until the courts of Ghana thought otherwise. In other words, it is not what you think, but what the laws of Ghana say”.
Chairman Dr. Lawrence Appiah advised that, “as we in the diaspora rush to pick up nomination forms to contest elections in Ghana, we must seek fair legal advice from various lawyers”. He iterated that “don’t rely on the advice of just one lawyer and put NDC into any long litigation after the elections; the fight in 2024 is not going to be an easy one and we don’t want to leave any stones unturned”.
DPM Chairman Dr. Appiah lamented in his statement that “the work load on NDC in 2025 and beyond, including jailing most of the current government officials to bring Ghana back to normalcy would be so huge that, we would not want any distractions because of someone’s carelessness and failure to follow due process”.
Dr. Lawrence Appiah credited the Chapter Organizer of NDC USA, Comrade Ebenezer Ekumah, alias Asona-ba, of the Chicago branch for calling me to issue this statement of caution.
He further posited that those diasporans who were excited to become Members of Parliament would be mindful of Article 92 clause 2a of Ghana’s constitution. I have already talked to five lawyers: two in US and three in Ghana.
Source: Nationaltymes.com
