James Gyakye Quayson, the MP for Assin North, has pleaded not guilty to charges including forgery, deceit of a public officer, knowingly making a false declaration, and perjury.
The Parliamentary elections in the Assin North Constituency were declared invalid by the High Court in July 2021 after it determined Mr Quayson was ineligible to compete.
Mr Quayson has since been fighting in court to have this overturned, and the case is currently before the Court of Appeal.
Michael Ankomah Nimfah, a resident of the constituency who initiated the action against the MP in the High Court, has sought the Supreme Court’s intervention to prevent the MP from performing Parliamentary duties.
That matter remains pending as court officials have been unable to serve the legislator with the court processes.
This year, the Attorney-General’s Office filed criminal charges against the legislator. Mr Quayson, who had been absent from court on at least two occasions, appeared in court on Tuesday.
Tsatsu Tsikata, his lawyer, urged the court not to hear the MP’s plea due to constitutional issues.
He asserted that the documents filed by the A-G as the basis for the charge sheet raise issues that necessitate interpretation of certain constitutional provisions. This, he insisted, is a job for the Supreme Court alone.
Alfred Tuah Yeboah, Deputy Attorney-General, told the Court that there is no issue of interpretation. He stated that the purpose of the day was for the accused to respond to the charges in accordance with the law.
Justice Mary Nsenkyire ruled in favor of the Deputy Attorney-General and ordered that the accused person enter a plea.
Mr Tuah Yeboah briefed the Court on the case’s facts.
“The brief facts of this case are that the accused person James Gyakye Quayson is the MP for Assin North Constituency. The complainant, Richard Takyi-Mensah, is a teacher and a resident of Yamoransa in the Central Region of Ghana.
“On July 26, 2019, the accused person signed an application form for a Republic of Ghana passport. He indicated that he is a Ghanaian and does not have dual citizenship in the application form.
“The accused at the time held Canadian citizenship issued on October 30, 2016, but failed to declare same on the application form. As a result, the passport application of the accused person was vetted on July 29, 2019.
“Based on this false information together with the other information provided by the accused person on the passport application form, he was issued with a Ghanaian passport, number G2538667, on August 2, 2019.
“Again, before the 2020 General Elections of Ghana was conducted on December 7, 2020, nominations were opened between the 5th and the 9th of October 2020.
“The accused person picked up nomination forms to contest for the position of Member of Parliament for Assin North Constituency.
“The accused person at the time was a Ghanaian and a Canadian citizen, making him a dual citizenship holder. He was therefore disqualified under Article 94(2)(a) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana to be a Member of Parliament.
The accused person used a statutory declaration, which he swore to on October 6, 2020, before the District Court Registrar at Assin Fosu, in part IV of the Electoral Commission of Ghana nomination forms, stating that he owes no allegiance to any country other than Ghana.
The MP for Assin North has pleaded not guilty to a forgery charge and has been granted bail.
The accused then proceeded to file his nomination forms on October 8, 2020, with false information in the statutory declaration. Based on this false information and other information provided by the accused person in the nomination forms, his nomination was accepted by the Electoral Commission.
He ran for the position and was eventually elected. As a result, the accused was issued a Certificate of Renunciation of Canadian Citizenship on November 26, 2020, approximately forty-eight days after making the false statutory declaration and filing his nomination forms.
“On January 14, 2021, the Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department received a petition dated January 11, 2021, from the complainant in which the complainant reported these actions of the accused, leading to investigations against him.
“In his cautioned statement to the police, the accused person claimed that at the material time, he honestly believed that he did not owe allegiance to any other country. However, the accused person was subsequently charged with the offences in the charge sheet.
“It is based on these facts that the accused person, James Gyakye Quayson, has been arraigned for trial.”
Mr Quayson was then granted $100,000 bail with one surety. He is also required to leave his passport at the Court Registrar’s office.
The case has been rescheduled for March 15.
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SOURCE: myjoyonline
