James Gyakye Quayson
Beleaguered National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Assin North constituency in the Central region, James Gyakye Quayson, has been charged with perjury, deceit of public officer, forgery of travel certificate among others by the state.
The charge sheet filed at the registrar of the High Court and signed by the Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, director of public prosecutions, preferred five counts against the MP.
The charges
The first is “deceit of public officer”, contrary to section 251(b) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).
On this charge, the Attorney General indicates that James Gyakye Quayson, “on or about the 29th of 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 a 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 the 26th of July 2019 at the Passport Office, in Accra, made a false statement that he did not have a dual citizenship for the purpose of procuring a passport, a statement, he knew to be untrue at the time of making it.
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 explained 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 indicated that James Gyakye 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 and on the fifth charge, 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 purpose of obtaining a public office as a Member of Parliament, a statement he knew to be material for obtaining that office.
Service and adjournment
State prosecutors Thursday, 3 February 2022 told the High Court that they have not been able to serve the Member of Parliament.
The prosecutors asked the court to adjourn sitting to allow the State to serve the accused person.
The court adjourned sitting to Wednesday, 9 February 2022 for the case to take its natural course.
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 follows 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 a Member of Parliament.
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 legally fighting to set this aside with the matter currently pending at the Court of Appeal.
A resident of the constituency Michael Ankomah Nimfah who initiated the action against the MP at the High Court, has sought the intervention of the Supreme Court to stop the MP from performing Parliamentary duties. That matter remains pending as court officials have been unable to serve the MP with the court processes.
