An Accra High Court presided over by Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, has dismissed an application filed by lawyers of the former Assin North Member of Parliament, James Gyekye Quayson, challenging three of the five charges preferred against him by the state.
The fraught National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP, has been charged by the state with perjury, deceit of a public officer and forgery of a travel certificate, among other accusations being made by the state.
The charges
The former Assin North lawmaker according to the charge sheet of the state filed on 3 February 2022, is first charged with “deceit of a public officer”, contrary to Section 251(b) of the Criminal Offences Act 1960 (Act 29).
On this charge, the Attorney General declares that Quayson, “on or about 29 July 2019 at the Passport Office, Accra, with intent to facilitate the obtaining of a Ghanaian passport, deceived the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by making a false statement that he did not have dual citizenship, a statement which he did not have a good reason to believe to be true at the time of making it”.
The second charge is “forgery of passport or travel certificate”, contrary to Section 15(1)(b) of the Passports and Travel Certificates Act 1967 (NLCD 155).
The state explains that James Gyakye Quayson, on or about 26 July 2019 at the Passport Office in Accra, made a false statement that he did not hold dual citizenship, for the purposes of procuring a Ghanaian passport, a statement he knew to be untrue at the time of making it, the charge sheet says.
Knowingly making a false statutory declaration, contrary to Section 5 of the Statutory Declarations Act 1971 (Act 389), is the third charge against the MP.
The Attorney General added that James Gyakye Quayson, on or about 6 October 2020 at Assin Fosu, made a statutory declaration that he did not owe allegiance to any country other than Ghana, a statement which he knew to be false in a material particular at the time of making it.
The fourth charge is “perjury”, contrary to Section 210(1) of the Criminal Offences Act 1960 (Act 29), and the last is “false declaration for office, also contrary to Section 248 of the Criminal Offences Act 1960 (Act 29)”.
On the fourth charge, the Attorney General states that Quayson, on or about 6 October 2020 at Assin Fosu, made a false statement on oath that he did not owe allegiance to any country other than Ghana.
On the fifth charge, the state claims that, on or about 8 October 2020 at the Electoral Commission office in Accra, James Gyakye Quayson knowingly used a declaration that he did not owe allegiance to any country other than Ghana for the purposes of obtaining a public office as a member of Parliament, a statement he knew to be material to obtaining that office.
Defence lawyer
Lawyer for the former MP, Tsatsu Tsikata, in his argument in court today 1 June 2022, noted that the 3rd, 4th, and 5th charges have a direct link to article 94 (2) (a) of the 1992 constitution which states that “a person shall not be qualified to be a member of Parliament if he – owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana”.
He explained that the accused person is being put before court without a clearly defined offence being stated on the charge sheet. He therefore prayed the court to dismiss the 3rd, 4th and 5th charges.
State opposition
Senior state attorney, Dorcas Felli, in her argument in opposition to that of the defence lawyer, stated that the particulars of offence on the charge sheet has given sufficient information for the accused person to answer.
She further posited that it is clear on the charge sheet that all the charges preferred against the accused are based on statutes and not the 1992 constitution.
By Court
Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, court in its ruling dismissing the argument of the defence team, said, the charges preferred against the accused person are premised on clearly defined laws.
According to the court, full disclosure has been done by the state to the defence team and case management conference (CMC) has been carried out.
The accused person is therefore fully aware of the facts that prosecution is relying on for the trial and can prepare adequately to challenge them.
“The application has no merit and same is dismissed. The case is adjourned to 12 June 2022, for the prosecution to call their first witness” Justice Mary Yanzuh’s court ruled.
Background
The Cape Coast high court restrained James Gyakye Quayson from holding himself as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for Assin North.
On Wednesday 28 July 2021, Justice Kwasi Boakye also ordered for fresh parliamentary elections to be held in the constituency.
This followed a parliamentary election petition brought to the Cape Coast high court by Michael Ankomah-Nimfah, seeking to annul the MP’s election.
Quayson polled 17,498 votes against 14,793 by the New Patriotic Party’s Abena Durowaa Mensah in the 7 December 2020 parliamentary election.
On 30 December 2020, a resident of Assin North, Michael Ankomah-Nimfah, filed a parliamentary election petition at the Cape Coast high court challenging Quayson’s eligibility to be an MP.
He argued that the MP was not eligible because at the time he (Quayson) filed his nomination to stand as a parliamentary candidate, he was still a citizen of Canada.
Such an act, he argued, was against the express provision of Article 94 (2)(a) of the 1992 constitution and Section 9(2) of the Representation of the People Act 1992 (PNDCL 284).
Quayson has since been fighting under the law to set this aside, with the matter currently pending at the Supreme Court.
Wilberforce Asare
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