James Gyakye Quayson
The prosecution’s first witness in the trial of James Gyakye Quayson, Member of Parliament for Assin North, has denied claims that there is a political agenda to be achieved by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the trial of the MP who is accused of deceit in his application for a Ghanaian passport in 2019.
The witness, Charles Takyi Mensah, also denied claims by Tsatsu Tsikata, counsel for the beleaguered MP that the witness and other executives of the NPP have been determined to have the MP jailed right from the time he won the election.
Mr. Quayson has been charged with five counts of deceit of public officer, forgery of passport or travel certificate, knowingly making a false statutory statement, perjury and false declaration of office.
His counsel resumed his cross-examination of the prosecution’s witness yesterday after Justice Mary Yanzuh did not accede to a request by the defence for the case to be adjourned.
Seriously Ill
Mr. Tsikata had told the court that the accused MP was seriously ill and had to seek medical attention in Canada, a reason he was not in court.
When the court enquired about the existence of any evidence pointing to the medical condition of the MP, the lawyer indicated that the MP is in Canada undergoing medical test and the requisite treatment arising from those tests.
“I have spoken to the accused person and he is going to provide from the doctors in Canada, full details of his medical situation and the treatment that he is having to undergo,” Mr. Tsikata said.
He also told the court that the MP has instructed him to contact a medical doctor in Ghana who had seen him just before he travelled and whose report he took with him to doctors seeing him in Canada.
“I am, therefore, respectfully asking the court to allow us contact the doctor in Ghana and make him available to the court in order to make it clear to the court the medical situation which requires the accused to undergo the treatment that the specialist doctors in Canada are requiring him to undergo,” Mr. Tsikata added.
Justice Yanzuh said there was an affidavit on record that a hearing notice had been served on counsel for the accused who were not in court on the last sitting date.
She said the MP was again absent and although there was no evidence before the court about his medical condition, no reasonable excuse had been given for his absence and he has also failed to join the proceedings virtually as instructed by the court at the previous sitting.
The judge, therefore, ordered the witness to enter the witness box for the continuation of the cross-examination.
Mr. Tsikata, who was not enthused, told the judge “your arbitrariness is staggering” multiple times. This did not change the judge’s mind.
Cross-examination
Mr. Tsikata in his cross-examination accused the witness of being bent on getting rid of Mr. Quayson from Parliament right from the time he was elected, stressing that the witness’s petition to the police was influenced by that agenda. “My Lady, that is not true,” Mr. Takyi Mensah responded.
“I put it to you that you are just in pursuit of your party’s political agenda,” Mr Tsikata suggested. “My Lady, that is not true,” the witness replied.
“In fact, in pursuit of that agenda, you were actively involved in the case brought at the High Court in Cape Coast after the election,” the lawyer further suggested, but the witness insisted that was not the case.
Justice Yanzuh discharged the witness and adjourned the case to November 19, 2023, for the prosecution to call its second witness or the next one if the second is not available.
She indicated that she will close the prosecution’s case for them if they fail to present a witness.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak