THE OPPOSITION National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson, who is now facing criminal persecution for perjury and four other offences, yesterday stormed Parliament House, declaring that he has nothing to fear.
Mr. Quayson, who was found by a Cape Coast High Court of holding both Canadian and Ghanaian citizenships whilst filing to contest the 2020 parliamentary election, declined to comment on whether he was running away from the law except to say he was in high spirit.
“I cannot actually comment on any matter that is in the court, but I can tell you I am in a very high spirit. An innocent person has nothing to fear. That is all I can say,” he told journalists in Parliament.
He continued, “All I will say to you at this point is as you are all aware this matter is in court. I believe and trust in the judicial system because that is the way for people to measure their innocence.”
Served Bail With Armed Police
On Thursday evening, armed policemen from the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service stormed the residence of the embattled Assin North MP, James Gyakye Quayson, at Manet Estates, a suburb of Accra, to facilitate the service of court summons on him.
The NDC MP bodyguard reportedly chased out a court bailiff at the Job 600 Office of MPs, when he was ordered by the Accra High Court, to serve a criminal summons on the Member of Parliament to appear before it to face the charges of perjury and deceit of public officer, among others, levelled against him by the Attorney General.
The armed police officers, according to information gathered, stormed the residence in a Rambo style and forcibly entered the MP’s residence to serve him with the court summons.
According to a police source, the MP himself refused to show up to the police as he was holed up in the house.
A servant in the house, reportedly came out to receive the court summons from the police on his behalf.
The court, presided over by Justice Mary Nsenkyire, issued the criminal summons after the MP failed to appear before it for trial despite efforts by court bailiffs and the case investigator to serve him with the charge sheet of the case.
The prosecution had pushed for a bench warrant for the arrest of the embattled MP but the court instead issued the criminal summons on the lawmaker.
Criminal Proceeding
The Office of the Attorney General had charged him with deceit, forgery and other criminal offences for misleading public officers.
The offences relate to the activities in the run-up to the 2020 parliamentary election which he won.
A Cape Coast High Court last year found that the MP was holding both Ghanaian and Canadian citizenship.
The court was to determine that at the time of filing his nomination to contest the 2020 parliamentary election in Assin North, Mr. Quayson was still holding Canadian citizenship.
The MP has been charged, among others, for deceiving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by making a false statement that he did not hold another citizenship 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 for the purpose of contesting for a public office as a Member of Parliament, a statement he knew to be untrue at that material time.
No Show
The MP failed to show up for the trial for the second time and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, told the court that on February 3, 2020, after the order was given for the accused person to be served with the charge and facts sheets, the prosecution caused hearing notice to be issued with the service address of the accused person at Assin Bereku in the Central Region.
She said they subsequently got the Accra address of the accused person and the case investigator posted a copy of the hearing notice on the inside door of the accused person at Manet Estates in Accra.
“Again, on February 7, we caused a second hearing notice to be issued for service by the court bailiff at the home of the accused person in Accra. On this same date the police investigator also posted a copy of the charge sheet at the home of the accused person. The police met an occupant of the home of the accused who refused to accept the charge sheet and said the accused had gone out,” the DPP told the court.
Mrs. Obuobisa therefore, prayed the court to issue a warrant for the arrest of the MP since bailiffs and the investigator are always told the MP has gone out any time they try to serve him.
Criminal Summons
The DPP then urged the court to issue the criminal summons to the MP by applying Section 65 of Act 30 which states that “Where service in the manner provided by sections 63 and 64 cannot, by the exercise of due diligence be effected, the serving officer shall affix one of the duplicates of the summons to a conspicuous part of the house or homestead in which the person summoned ordinarily resides, and the summons shall be considered to have been duly served.”
Justice Nsenkyire subsequently issued an order for substituted service in the form of a criminal summon on the MP to appear before the court.
The case was adjourned to February 15, 2022.
By Ernest Kofi Adu & Daniel Bampoe