Former President John Mahama has criticised the ruling of the High Court that the criminal case against the ousted Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North Constituency in the Central Region, Gyakye Quayson, should be heard daily.
He described as absurd the ruling of the court because not even murderers are prosecuted at that pace including the prosecution of Nana Appiah Mensah (NAM1), former Chief Executive Officer of Menzgold, who is accused of swindling Ghanaians, is done at that pace.
“Because of the hatred for Gyekye Quayson, they have also taken him to court and they are saying they are going to jail him, now the court is saying he should come to court every day, not even criminals who have committed murder are treated this way because murders are not told to come to court every day for their case to be heard,” former President Mahama decried.
On February 12, 2022, the state charged Mr Quayson with five counts; deceit of a public officer, forgery of a passport, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury, and false declaration.
Addressing a community durbar at Sienkyem in Assin North constituency, the former president stated that NAM1’s case had been in court for almost three years and not even heard on daily basis and questioned what he had done to the state and further questioned what he had killed someone or stolen someone’s money.
According to him, even if Mr Quayson was detained by the court, he would still win the by-election which would be held on June 27, 2023 saying “they can get him a mat at the court for him to sleep there, even if he is not present on the day of the by-election, he will still win.”
The High Court in Accra, on June 18, 2023, ruled that the ongoing criminal trial of Mr Quayson, will be heard daily commencing from June 20, 2023, after Justice Mary Ekue Yanzuh, the presiding judge, turned down an application for the trial to be adjourned till after the by-election but the court fixed June 20, 21, and 23 for the trial to continue.
Mr Quayson was recently ousted from Parliament after the Supreme Court ruled that he was ineligible to contest in the 2020 parliamentary election because he failed to renounce his Canadian citizenship on time and he has to face another case in court after the Office of the Attorney General accused him of deceiving public officers to acquire state documents.
