You can’t prejudice a case in court – Mahama slams Akufo-Addo for Gyakye Quayson comments

Former President John Dramani Mahama has slammed his successor, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for making remarks he believes are adverse to the pending criminal prosecution involving James Gyakye Quayson.

President Akufo-Addo insinuated on Sunday, June 25, at the Church of Pentecost in Assin Akonfudi, Assin North Constituency, Central Region, that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Candidate in Tuesday’s by-elections is a prison candidate.

“They say they will vote for Gyakye Quayson even if he is imprisoned; are we going to vote for someone who is going to prison?”

“What will the people gain by voting for such a person?” We want someone who can come to me after he is elected and plan how to grow the constituency.”

Mr Mahama, on the other hand, responded angrily, claiming that the President’s remarks violate the ideals of the 1992 Constitution and, indeed, democracy in Ghana.

“The president is wrong when he says that, because he is prejudicing the case in court,” the NDC Presidential Candidate for 2024 said in an interview with TV3’s Komla Klutse in Assin North.

He asserted that the NDC maintains by its claim that the Supreme Court’s decision to have the name of its 2020 parliamentary candidate removed from Parliament following a convincing victory over the incumbent was wrong.

“Even justices of the court and professors of law have said that the Supreme Court erred in this judgement because the Constitution is clear,” he emphasized.

It states that in order to be able to run for office, a person must not owe allegiance, and elections are when this rule becomes effective, not when a person fills out regular paperwork.

The Court determined that Mr. Gyakye Quayson had citizenship in Canada prior to submitting his nomination papers to run in the 2020 elections.

“We reject the Supreme Court’s ruling. If the President claimed that [James Gyakye Quayson] was a prisoner, it is terrible, against our democracy, and against the law. The president is not permitted to influence a judicial case.

The NDC is keeping Mr. Gyakye Quayson as its candidate, and the by-election is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, June 27.

But the New Patriotic Party (NPP) chose Charles Opoku, who is thought to divide votes in Assin Breku, the district’s capital, where the NDC PC received more votes in 2020 than the incumbent Abena Durowaa Mensah.

Source: Mynewsghana.com