High Court orders re-run of Assin North Parliamentary Elections
Charges of forgery and perjury brought against Assin North MP at Supreme Court
James Gyekye Quayeson fails to appear in court
The Supreme Court of Ghana has ordered an investigation into the alleged assault of one of its bailiffs by a bodyguard of the embattled Member of Parliament for Assin North, James Gyakye
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Following charges of forgery, perjury, deceiving a public officer, and knowingly making a false declaration brought against the MP, the Supreme Court ordered a bailiff to serve Mr Gyakye Quayeson with a writ of summons.
Supreme Court Registrar Matthew Antiaye, at a sitting of the court on Tuesday, January 7, 2022, informed the court that attempts to serve the MP through the Office of the Speaker of Parliament and the Clerk of Parliament have all failed.
He told the court that a further attempt by the bailiff, Joshua Banning, to serve the MP directly at his office in parliament saw him being manhandled by the bodyguard of Mr James Gyekye Quayeson.
Meanwhile, the MP failed to appear in court on Tuesday when the case was called. Also, no representation was entered for the embattled MP.
The case has been adjourned to Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
TWI NEWS
A Cape Coast High Court in 2021 ruled that the Assin North MP did not qualify to contest the December 7, 2020, Parliamentary Elections as he bore dual citizenship before filing his nomination.
The High Court ordered Gyekye Quayeson to cease holding himself as an MP and ordered fresh elections in the Assin North Constituency.
However, the MP who has since been appealing the ruling has maintained his position in parliament and continues to participate in activities of the house.
Brief facts of the case against the Assin North MP
The brief of facts in the suit against James Gyekye Quayeson as presented by the prosecution are;
“The brief facts of this case are that the accused person James Gyakye Quayson is the Member of Parliament 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. In the application form, he indicated that he is a Ghanaian and does not have dual citizenship. The accused at the time held Canadian citizenship issued on October 30, 2016, but failed to declare the same on the application form. 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. Therefore, he was disqualified under Article 94(2)(a) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana to be a Member of Parliament.
“In part IV of the nomination forms of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, the accused person used a statutory declaration which he had sworn to on October 6 2020, before the District Court Registrar at Assin Fosu stating that he does not owe allegiance to any country other than Ghana. The accused person further went ahead to file his nomination forms on October 8 2020, with the false information in the statutory declaration. Based on this false information, together with other information provided by the accused person in the nomination forms, his nomination was accepted by the Electoral Commission.
“He contested for the position and subsequently won the seat. The accused person was issued a Certificate of Renunciation of his Canadian citizenship dated November 26 2020, about forty-eight days after he had made the false statutory declaration and filed 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. 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.”
