Is James Gyakye Quayson a Reincarnated Gbedema or he is merely facing retaliation for Adamu Sakande? – Episode 1

Introduction
Komla Agbeli Gbedema, Adamu Dramani Sakande and James Gyakye Quayson have suffered the same political fate with some variations because their memberships of Parliament of Ghana (National Assembly as it then was) had been challenged legally by their political opponents such as Progress Party (Gbedema), National Democratic Congress (Sakande) and New Patriotic Party (Quayson).

I have been pondering over the political fate of James Gyakye Quayson, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North Constituency (as he then was) and now MP-elect for the same Constituency after the just ended by-election on Tuesday, June 27, 2023. Having pondered on the matter for a while, I have been wondering if what is happening to Hon. Quayson in 2023 in the Fourth Republic is not a political replica of what happened to his parliamentary forebears, Hon. Komla Agbeli Gbedema in the Second Republic, and Hon. Adamu Dramani Sakande in the same Fourth Republic? It happened to Gbedema when the Busia-led PP was in power, it happened to Sakande when the Mills/Mahama-led NDC was in power, and it happened, and it is still happening to Gyakye Quayson when the Nana Akuffo Addo-led NPP is in power.

Who was Komla Agbeli Gbedema?
Komla Agbeli Gbedema (also known as K.A. Gbedema or Afro Gbedema) was the first Finance Minister of independent Ghana. He worked closely with President Nkrumah until the two fell out in 1961 when he quitted Nkrumah’s Cabinet compellingly. Gbedema was a Ghanaian born in Warri in Nigeria. He hailed from Anyako in the Volta Region.

In his feature article published on Graphic Online on July 11, 2019, Vincent L.K. Djokoto poignantly described Gbedema as “…a revolutionary youth activist and an iconic statesman who, as a senior architect of both the modern Ghanaian state and Republic, played a critical role in shaping the political landscape of our nation for decades. He is widely recognized as the mastermind who propelled the image of Kwame Nkrumah - the father of Pan-Africanism - to national attention.”

What happened to Gbedema after the 1969 parliamentary elections?

In the Second Republic (under the 1969 Constitution), K. A. Busia was the Prime Minister of Ghana while Edward Akuffo Addo (father of the current President, Nana Akuffo Addo) was the President of Ghana. Their political party at the time was called the Progress Party (PP). The PP had metamorphosed with different names such as National Liberation Movement (NLM), United Party (UP), Popular Front Party (PFP) and All People’s Party (APP) until it is now called New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Fourth Republic.

On August 29, 1969, Ghana held its parliamentary elections, the first of its kind since the 1966 coup made by the National Liberation Council (NLC) which toppled the Nkrumah Administration on 24^th February,1966.

In the 1969 parliamentary elections, voters elected the new 140-seat Parliament, based on Article 70 of the 1969 Constitution. In that election, the Kofi Abrefa Busia-led Progress Party won 105 of the 140 seats and Busia himself was elected Prime Minister of Ghana. This was the second and last prime minister regime in Ghana, the first being that of Kwame Nkrumah prior to him becoming the first President of Ghana.

K.A. Gbedema contested and won the 1969 parliamentary elections for the Keta Constituency in Volta Region on the ticket of the party he founded, the National Alliance for Liberals (NAL). Gbedema’s campaign slogan was, "Say it loud, I am black and proud!”. The NAL won 29 of the 140 seats at the time and 14 of the seats for NAL were from Volta Region, the home region of the NAL founder, Gbedema. Consequently, Gbedema was sworn in as MP for Keta on September 5, 1969.

However, the Busia-led Progress Party (now named NPP) opposed Gbedema’s membership of Parliament on ground of the controversial Article 71 (2) (b) (ii) of the 1969 Constitution. Article 71 of the 1969 Constitution disqualified persons against whom certain adverse findings had been made by a Commission of Enquiry from holding public office. That Article of the 1969 Constitution read, “No person shall be qualified to be a member of the National Assembly who by the report of a Commission of Inquiry to be incompetent to hold public office or that while being a public officer, he acquired assets unlawfully or defrauded the State, or misused or abused his office or willfully acted in a manner prejudicial to the interest of the State”.

After Gbedema was sworn in as MP, the Progress Party through its Keta Constituency candidate (Mr. E. Awoonor Williams) in the 1969 parliamentary elections, filed the disqualification case against Gbedema (the main opposition leader at the time) in October 1969 and the case travelled to the Supreme Court. Awoonor sought for:

1. The declaration that by reason of Article 71 (2) of the 1969 Constitution, Gbedema (the defendant/respondent) was not qualified to be a member of the National Assembly. According to Awoonor and the PP, the Annie Ruth Jiagge Commission of Enquiry found that Gbedema had acquired assets unlawfully while holding public office under Nkrumah and that within the meaning of Article 71 (2) of the 1969 Constitution, Gbedema was ineligible to be a member of the National Assembly for 5 years from the date of the publication of the Jiagge Commission Report. It would be recalled that the Jiagge Commission of Enquiry was appointed under the Commissions of Enquiry Act, 1964 (Act 250) and N.L.C. (Investigation and Forfeiture of Assets) Decree 1966 (N.L.C.D. 72) to Enquire into the Assets of Specified Persons in Ghana.
2. An injunction to restrain Gbedema from occupying the Keta seat in the National Assembly and from holding himself as the legislator for the Keta Constituency.

The Supreme Court eventually ruled on November 28, 1969, that on grounds of Article 71 of the 1969 Constitution, Gbedema did not qualify to occupy the Keta seat in the National Assembly (now Parliament) and that findings of a Commission of Enquiry were not subject to a review by the superior courts of judicature under the 1969 Constitution. Whereas Gbedema was represented by Mr. Quarshie Idun, Awoonor’s Counsel in the case was Mr. Harold Darkoh. Gbedema’s writ for review of the SC decision was dismissed. He thus ceased representing Keta in the National Assembly and he was succeeded by his NAL colleague, Albert Gregorio De Souza. I will revert with episode 2 of this piece, touching on James Gyakye Quayson of the NDC and Adamu Sakande (the late) of the NPP before I conclude the discussions. ~ Asante Sana ~

Philip Afeti Korto
Hospital Administrator
[email protected]