Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has expressed his reservations on what he deems an attack against the Dormaahene for comments made regarding the criminal trial of Assin North MP, James Gyakye Quayson.
According to him, there is an “orchestrated attempt to insult” the Dormaahene because he hasn’t committed any wrong. He revealed that if anybody would want to castigate him, he would want to appreciate the grounds and reasons for doing so.
Mr Dafeamekpor noted that the Dormaahene was invited to a program as the overlord of Dormaa, not as a sitting high court judge. Owing to this, he explained that the Dormaahene in his interaction with the media spoke in respect of the Supreme Court decision that took out Quayson from parliament, indicating that if he were part of the panel he would have dissented.
With this, Mr Dafeamekpor questioned whether judges do not dissent all the time as they have different opinions.
“So, I don’t see the basis for this sudden avalanche of attack against the Dormaahene, except to say safely that these voices perceive him to not belong to a certain political dispensation. Because after he spoke, the former Attorney General, senior Ayikoi Otoo, has also spoken in similar terms. Everybody has gone quiet regarding his comment. So, what is this? Why this hypocrisy? What was so prejudicial about what Dormaahene said?”
Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor
Justifying his stance, Mr Dafeamekpor explained that what was rather prejudicial was for the Attorney General to “go stand in court and say that a person is likely to be jailed”. He said the Attorney General did not in any way base his argument on evidence available to him and the court.
“So, when you are a prosecutor, your duty is to prosecute pursuant to the evidence you have, not to persecute, and believe that even though as a prosecutor, the person has the constitutional doctrine of innocence until proven guilty by court of law. So, you go and insist that once you are prosecuting, somebody should be on his way to jail… Who was more prejudicial than what the head of state himself said in Assin regarding this matter?”
Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor
Expressing his disappointment in the attack against the Dormaahene, the South Dayi legislator revealed that he is livid by the level of hypocrisy that is being demonstrated in some of these matters. He noted that most commentators are quick to liken Gyakye Quayson’s matter to Adamu Sakande.
“Sakande with all due respect to the people who make such abominable comparison, is not on all force with this matter. Sakande at the time that he took the oath of allegiance and oath of office as a member of parliament, was still in possession of two other foreign passports, in addition to his Ghanaian passport.”
Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor
Request for filing a nolle prosequi is not wrong
Furthermore, Mr Dafeamekpor emphasized that the Dormaahene has a right to comment on the criminal case especially because the matter has been determined and so the case is now subject to review and critique either in academia or by peer review.
Additionally, he stated that the Dormaahene only urged the Attorney General that given the peculiar circumstances, it will be prudent and in the interest of the republic, for a nolle prosequi to be filed.
“Now, by our criminal jurisprudence the Attorney General owes nobody an excuse or to give reasons for entering a nolle prosequi. Indeed, the Attorney General entered the nolle prosequi recently in the case of Aisha Huang. He didn’t offer reasons to any of us, not even to his own government and Aisha Huang was deported. So, if a prominent chief of that caliber urged that he should enter a nolle prosequi why should the Attorney General be a cry baby in this matter? He didn’t hold a gun to your head.”
Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor
Subsequently, Mr Dafeamekpor expressed that all nolle prosequi is a prosecutorial tool used in a lot of common law jurisdiction for the state to simply state that prosecutors are no longer interested in pursuing a matter because crime is deemed not to have been committed against the entire republic.
As such, he said if the republic says that for good reasons, it was no longer going to pursue a criminal prosecution against someone, there is the need to enter a nolle prosequi.
“In any case, entering a nolle prosequi does not preclude the state from returning to prosecute you later. They can actually come back.”
Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor
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