James Gyakye Quayson
The Office of the Attorney General has filed all the documents it intends to rely on for the trial of Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson, who is before an Accra High Court over perjury and other criminal charges.
The documents include the witness statements of all the five witnesses the prosecution will be calling during the trial, as well as all disclosure documents relevant for the trial of the embattled MP.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, yesterday told the court that they have filed the documents but they were not able to serve the defence because they did not have the service address of Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, counsel for the MP.
The court, presided over by Justice Mary Nsenkyire, ordered the accused person to provide a service address to the Registrar of the court to enable the prosecution to effect subsequent service of documents.
Meanwhile, Mr. Tsikata has filed an application for stay of proceedings as well as an appeal against the court’s decision not to stay proceedings and refer Article 94(2a) to the Supreme Court for interpretation.
The court, on February 15, 2022, prior to taking the MP’s plea had dismissed an application by Mr. Tsikata seeking a stay of proceedings and a referral of the constitutional article to the apex court for interpretation.
Mr. Tsikata argued that three of the five charges – knowingly making a false statement, perjury and false declaration for office relate to Article 94 Clause 2(a) of the constitution, hence urged the court to stay proceedings and refer the constitutional provision to the Supreme Court for interpretation.
The application was opposed by the Deputy Attorney General, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, who argued that the mere mention of a constitutional provision in the facts does not warrant a stay of proceedings and a referral of the matter to Supreme Court for interpretation.
He said the referral will arise only when two or more rival interpretations are placed on a constitutional provision, something that has not happened.
The court, presided over by Justice Mary Nsenkyire, agreed with the Deputy AG that the mere mention of a constitutional provision in the fact does not warrant a referral to the Supreme Court for interpretation, and subsequently dismissed the oral application.
Mr. Tsikata has appealed against that decision and the application is scheduled for March 29, 2022.
Trial
The MP has been charged, among others, for deceiving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by making a false statement that he did not have dual citizenship in order to acquire a Ghanaian passport.
Mr. Quayson has also been charged with perjury for making a false statement at Assin Fosu, that he does not owe allegiance to any country other than Ghana, a statement he did not have a reason to believe to be true at the time of making it.
Again, the MP has been charged for making a false declaration for office, when he knowingly said he does not owe allegiance to any country other than Ghana for the purpose of obtaining a public office as a Member of Parliament, a statement he knew to be material for obtaining that office.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak