The National Youth Organiser for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) believes the National Democratic Congress (NDC) failed to do due diligence prior to approving the candidature of Joe Gyakye Quayson as Parliamentary candidate for the Assin North Constituency.

According to Henry Nana Boakye, it was the responsibility of the party to investigate their member and ensure that he had properly renounced his Canadian citizenship before applying to run as MP on the party's ticket.

Speaking on Top Story on Wednesday he said “I think that the NDC was very incompetent in managing their candidate because for us in the NPP we set up a validation and verification committee.”

“They actually went very deep behind the scenes, to make sure that every person who came from the diaspora was really in conformity with the constitution and any other law,” he explained on Joy FM.

Mr Boakye said Mr Quayson violated the electoral laws of Ghana and the court's decision only vindicates the position NPP held since the issue went to court.

On Wednesday, July 28, a Cape Coast High Court cancelled the parliamentary results for the Assin North constituency in the 2020 Parliamentary Elections in the constituency.

The Court presided over by Justice Kwasi Boakye, ordered for fresh elections to be conducted in the constituency.

The case of the petitioner was that the MP at the time of filing to contest the 2020 Parliamentary Elections, had not renounced his Canadian citizenship and thus held dual nationality.

He further averred that at the close of nominations on the 9th of October, the Assin MP had not still renounced his Canadian nationality.

He said Mr Quayson, who at the time of filing the case held himself as the MP, is in complete violation of Article 94 (2a) and the court should declare his election null and void.

Meanwhile, Nana Boakye believes that the dependence of the NDC on the Electoral Commission's approval of Mr Quayson for the 2020 election to prove he deserved to remain the constituency's MP is flawed.

He explained that the EC, which only depended on the statutory declaration Mr Quayson presented them with, is not mandated to investigate the candidates.

He stated that the electoral body confirmed in court during the hearing that their decision was made based on the documentation the former Assin North MP presented them with.

Mr Boakye said that “when you begin the nomination process, you need to make a statutory declaration and this you make before a judicial officer. At the time that Mr Quayson made this statutory declaration, he was a citizen of Canada.”

“He actually received his certificate of renunciation on the 26th of November. So, indeed he lied under oath and that position is quite clear, it has already been established. So, you cannot repeatedly rely on the statement by the EC to make your point, that is weak.”

Meanwhile, 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.

According to the Tamale South MP, the judge erred in law and in facts.