Ousted MP James Gyakye Quayson has applied to the high court to review an order that he appear on a daily basis for his ongoing criminal trial.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for Assin North believes his re-election bid in the forthcoming by-election is being frustrated by that order.
Quayson is expected in court with his lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata on Tuesday, 20 June 2023, to pursue the motion.
In an interview with the media, Quayson said was unshaken by the court’s decision to hear his perjury case daily.
“If they want, they can do so by giving me a bed to sleep in the court to enable me to attend the court but the New Patriotic Party will lose the by-elections,” he said.
“They can further give me a chamber to sleep in the court but Assin North will fall to me,” he noted.
He also alleged: “They can share money ahead of the by-election but the people will vote against them.”
“I want to even disguise myself and collect some of the money and distribute it to the chiefs and people of the area,” he added.
The perjury and forgery trial against Quayson is be heard on a day-to-day basis beginning Tuesday, June 20, 2023, the High Court ruled recently.
This comes after the court, presided over by Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, turned down a prayer by Mr Quayson’s lawyer, Justin Terriwajjah, to have the trial continued after the Assin North by-election slated for June 27, 2023.
The lawyer argued that his client was embarking on a national duty in a bid to represent the people of Assin North in parliament, hence the need to continue the trial after the by-election for Quayson to have a level playing field in the campaign.
However, the Attorney General, Godfred Dame, who described the decision by Quayson to contest the by-election as a “voluntary and selfish quest”, opposed to the prayer stressing that nobody had given the former MP a national assignment.
Quayson is facing charges of forgery and perjury concerning certain alleged offences in the run-up to the 2020 Assin North parliamentary election.
He has been charged with five counts of forgery of passport or travel certificate, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury and false declaration for office.
The Supreme Court declared Quayson’s election in the 2020 polls as unconstitutional with reason that he had not renounced his Canadian citizenship at the time of filing to run for office.
Ghana’s laws bar dual-citizens from holding public office.
