“Quayson is bound for jail” remark: Tsatsu cites Akufo-Addo in Court of Appeal filings

James Gyakye Quayson’s lead attorney will today begin an appeal procedure in the Court of Appeal’s Criminal Division, appealing the Accra High Court judge’s decision to order a daily trial for his client, the member of parliament-elect for Assin North.

Tsatsu Tsikata’s action is intended to guarantee that the MP-elect has a fair trial in the criminal case he is currently facing.

Quayson’s attorney claimed in an affidavit filed by Justin Pwara Teriwajah that the High Court judge made “legal errors” when she decided to allow daily trials for their client.

In a section of his affidavit, he claimed that the court’s decision had acquired a political turn as a result of the president Nana Addo Dabkwa Akufo-Addo’s disparaging remarks following the decision.

He claimed that the president had stressed the Attorney General’s remark that Gyakye Quayson had chosen irresponsibly to run for a parliamentary seat while under investigation for a crime.

Part of the section about Akufo-Addo stated: “That, seemingly encouraged by the court’s judgement on June 23, 2023, the Attorney-General’s grossly prejudicial, unjustifiable, and offensive remarks were elevated to the level of the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

“That the said President made many unfavorable comments at a rally for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, including some to the effect that the voters in Assin North Constituency should not support a candidate who could end up in prison.”

It continued by giving a GhanaWeb link to the aforementioned remarks and announcing that the accused would ask the court for permission to show a video clip of Akufo-Addo’s words from the aforementioned event.

On the basis of many legal mistakes made by the trial judge that violated Quayson’s right to a fair trial, Quayson’s attorneys requested a stay of proceedings in the substantive matter awaiting the outcome of his appeal.

The Electoral Commission said that the MP-elect ran for and won the June 27 by-election with 17,245 votes, or 57.56% of the total votes cast, despite being on trial for five crimes.

Charles Opoku of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who was his closest rival, received 12,630 votes, or 42.15 percent of the vote.

87 votes, or 0.29% of the total, went to Bernice Enyonam Sefenu of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG).

In Assin North, a by-election was held to fill the parliamentary seat that became vacant after a legal dispute regarding Quayson’s eligibility to occupy office due to dual citizenship issues.

Source: Mynewsghana.com