James Gyakye Quayson, the member of parliament for Assin North, has stated that he is not afraid of going to jail, if found guilty of the allegations brought against him.
Mr. Quayson asserted that he has faith in the legal system and expects to be exonerated of all allegations.
Asked if he’s not scared he will end up in Nsawam prison if found guilty, the Assin North MP pointed out, “No, why should I? I believe in the justice system. The fundamental thing about any judicial matter is that the person intended to commit that crime. Did he plan it? I have not planned anything of such.”
“My strongest conviction is that this is just a matter of time. When you believe you have done the right thing, you shouldn’t be afraid. I trust the court will deliver a very much positive verdict, I trust my lawyers, I trust the conscience of the people.”
Gyakye Quayson
Moreover, he said that since 2009, he had been making use of his dual citizenship.
“You get your dual citizenship through the Ministry of Interior, where you bring your Canadian passport and that of Ghanaian passport, and then they give you a green certificate, which is your dual citizenship. From 2009 till the time I became just solely a Ghanaian, I was travelling from Ghana to Canada, without a visa.
“The Ghanaian authorities recognized me as a dual citizen person, so how can the same person be applying for or renewing his passport, and you say I don’t have any other nationality? It doesn’t make sense. Unless they also don’t check their own records. So I don’t fear going to jail at all.”
Gyakye Quayson
Due to allegations of falsification and perjury, the MP is going to court. He is being pursued by the state on suspicion of forging a passport or travel document in violation of section 15(1)(b) of the Passports and Travel Certificates Act, 1967 (NLCD 155), deceiving a public official in violation of section 251(b) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, Act 29, and making a false statutory declaration knowingly in violation of the Statutory Declarations Act, 1971, Act 389.
Additionally, he is charged with perjury in accordance with section 210 (1) of the Criminal Offenses Act, 1960, Act 29, and false declaration for office in accordance with section 248 of the same law.
Gyakye Quayson Never Invited As Witness
James Gyakye Quayson disclosed that the trial judge who oversaw the revocation of his election as a member of parliament in the 2020 elections, never asked him to testify in the case.
“After the 3rd week of my victory in 2020, I was served through my lawyers a court injunction, that they were challenging my elections. During that same entire process, I never had a day in court myself, I never had a chance. The trial judge never called me as a witness, or anything, even once, which my lawyers were demanding. In all these processes, I wasn’t in court. Obviously, they gave it to a bailiff to serve me, and that was a day before the swearing-in. We never received it, my lawyers never received it.”
Gyakye Quayson
Asked if he was smuggled into the Chamber of Parliament during the swearing-in on January 6, 2021, he retorted, “I will not use the word smuggling. I was in a hotel with my team, and we decided we will come in the night together. It was partly a celebration team. I was in a smaller group to enter the chamber. I was going to go with the flow. Nobody stopped me from entering the chamber. There was controversy about the injunction during the swearing-in, as to the time I was served. The bottom line was that I was never served.”
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