More trouble for NDC’s Assin North MP

•He has petitioned the CID the investigate and prosecute James Quayson

•The Cape Coast High Court has ruled that Quayson was not eligible to contest the 2020 elections

After losing his seat as the Member of Parliament for Assin North, James Gyaakye Quayson, the Parliamentary candidate of the National Democratic Congress for the 2020 election will now have to fight against going to jail as criminal proceedings have been instituted against him.

The Central Regional Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party has disclosed that he filed a petition at the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service in January 2021, demanding that James Quayson be investigated for committing perjury.

Richard Techie-Mensah told Citi News on Wednesday, July 28, 2021 that James Quayson lied to the state during the filing of nomination forms for the 2020 elections.

He claims that James Quayson told a judicial officer then that at the point of filing his forms in October he owed allegiance to no country aside Ghana.

Following the ruling by the Cape Coast High Court, Richard Techie-Mensah is of the view that James Quayson committed perjury by lying under oath and must be prosecuted for same.

This position was re-affirmed by the National Youth Organizer of the NPP, Henry Nana Boakye (Nana B) in an interview with the press in Cape Coast after the ruling.

Nana B said that the party will assist the CID to investigate the issue and prosecute James Quayson.

“Our Regional Secretary has made a formal complaint to the CID, so I am very sure that the CID in its judgement will consider it and critically assess it, and we’re also going on with the criminal proceedings. The laws have not changed regarding filing nominations and dual citizenship, so we are looking forward to the law taking effect. Don’t forget that before the swearing-in there was an injunction against him for holding himself up as an MP, and I am very sure that criminal charges will be pressed against him,” he said.

Precedent

A similar issue that easily comes to mind is of the late Adamu Dramani Sakande who was convicted on counts of false declaration of office, perjury and deceiving a public officer.

He was found guilty of stating that he owed allegiance to no other country at a time his citizenship renunciation process had not been successful.

Sakande was sentenced to two years imprisonment by the Fast Track High Court on July, 27, 2012.

He was granted presidential pardon by John Mahama in December 2012 after battling heart-related illness whiles in prison. He died in 2020.