Mustapha Gbande, the NDC’s Deputy General Secretary, has stated that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) believes that NPP government is attempting to sway the court in the criminal case against Mr. Quayson.

He predicted that many party members would attend the hearing to support Mr. Quayson. Mr. Gbande asserted that the NDC and the residents of Assin North are firmly in support of him.

James Gyakye Quayson is currently facing criminal charges, and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has vowed to support him without wavering during this or the impending Assin North by-election.

The NDC maintains that Mr. Quayson is innocent, has not breached any laws, and has been the victim of government injustice.

“People believe that government machinery is trying to influence the court to do injustice to Gyakye Quayson, but we don’t believe that he has done any criminality, or he has committed any crime. His lovers are going to be campaigning in his absence and then also see him through the court case.
“So you cannot pretend to feel what he is feeling, he is not in it alone, he is in it with the party and the party is solidly behind him and Ghanaians are solidly behind him and the people of Assin North are solidly behind him.”
Mustapha Gbande

On June 20, the NDC’s candidate for the Assin North parliamentary seat is scheduled to appear in court to answer allegations of perjury and misleading a public officer.

It was unsuccessful for his Attorneys to get the trial put off, until after the by-election. The accused is a candidate in the by-election set on June 27, thus his Attorneys also asked that the hearings be postponed. This request was however turned down by the court.

Instead, the court set June 20 for the state to resume its witness testimony. In the meantime, Mr. Quayson’s Attorney has asked the High Court to reconsider its directive requiring him to show up in court each day for the hearing of his trial.

Gyakye Quayson, who won the Assin North constituency seat in the general election of 2020, was expelled from Parliament after the Supreme Court ordered that his name be cleared from the body’s records. He was taken to court on charges of having two citizenships and currently faces criminal charges from the state.

However, John Dramani Mahama, the NDC’s Presidential candidate, attacked the High Court for scheduling Quayson’s trial for daily hearings.

Kpebu Criticizes High Court Ruling

The High Court’s decision to hold daily hearings in the criminal case against James Gyakye Quayson, the former Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North, drew criticism from renowned Attorney, Martin Kpebu.

Martin Kpebu was unable to understand the justification for the court’s decision. He found it amusing that the court views the Gyakye Quayson trial as urgent but has allowed the case of Nana Appiah Mensa (NAM1), the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MenzGold, to drag on for more than three years, affecting millions of Ghanaians.

“It struck me when they said that Gyakye Quayson’s trial would be heard daily and NAM1’s case has been adjourned for the 35th time. It just summed everything up.
“Because NAM1 whose case has affected millions of our citizens, has caused people so much pain, disease, etc, that one is not so urgent? It is this one (the Gyakye Quayson case) that is urgent.”
Martin Kpebu