Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, the Deputy Attorney-General, has stated that the dismissal of the motion made by the Member of Parliament for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson against his daily trial, has given prosecutors a sense of vindication.
According to Mr. Tuah-Yeboah, the court was more interested in the facts of the case in light of what the law states than in political gimmicks.
On Tuesday, July 11, the Accra High Court rejected the appeal James Gyakye Quayson, a member of parliament for Assin North, made to stop the daily trial.
The attorneys for James Gyakye Quayson stated that they will submit a motion to the Court of Appeal. When the Assin North by-election was approaching, his attorney, Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, contended in court that his client was on a national assignment. He cited Article 55(13) of the 1992 Constitution to support his request.
Mr. Tuah-Yeboah commented on the situation, “we feel vindicated; this is a court of law, it is not a court of political gimmicks or razmataz, it is for us to speak law and talk law in court. We spoke law and we have been vindicated. The trial is going to continue on Friday, Friday your witness will be in court and continue with the cross-examination.”
Regarding the choice of Mr. Quasyon’s attorneys to submit the stay of proceedings, he stated that while it is within their rights to do so, their submission does not necessarily result in a stay of the court’s procedures. He said, “If they file, we will respond accordingly.”
“To us, we are dealing with law, we are not dealing with sentiments, we are not dealing with politics in court. Politics belongs to the political platforms, law belongs to the court; we are in court to talk law and not politics.”
Alfred Tuah-Yeboah
Application For Stay Of Proceedings Dismissed
The court rejected the request for a stay of proceedings made by the member of parliament for Assin North.
The Court of Appeal will receive a motion from lead attorney, Tsatsu Tsikata asking for a halt of the proceedings.
The MP is undergoing trial at the High Court in Accra on charges of forgery and perjury. The lawyers for the troubled MP made a motion asking the court to halt proceedings so that the Court of Appeal could consider its appeal of the trial judge’s decision to hear the case on a daily basis.
Tsatsu Tsikata, the team’s lead attorney, contended that any decision to not halt the proceedings would be prejudicial to the appeal. The objection, however, was resisted by Godfred Dame, the lead prosecutor.
When Mr. Gyakye Quayson announced his intention to run in the 2020 Assin North parliamentary elections, a group calling itself “Concerned Citizens of Assin North” petitioned the Electoral Commission (EC) in the Central Region to have Mr. Quayson’s candidacy withdrawn on the grounds that he was a citizen of Canada.
In support of James Gyakye Quayson’s prosecution, the minority in parliament once more chose to boycott parliamentary proceedings today.
The Minority caucus made the decision to skip Parliamentary sessions and travel to court with their fellow member as a gesture of support. This is the second instance of Minority MPs skipping work to join a colleague in court.
The caucus contends that the Attorney General and Minister for Justice must drop Mr. Gyakye Quayson’s case because it is an unfair trial.
The Tuesday, July 11 session of Parliament was adjourned due to a nearly empty House. At the beginning of the proceedings, there were no members of the Minority and hardly any more than 10 Members of Parliament (MPs) who represented the Majority. Andrew Amoako Asiamah, the Second Deputy Speaker, made the decision to adjourn the meeting.
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