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Discontinue Gyakye Quayson trial: The academic, chief, priest who have spoken so far

Prof Azar, Dormaahene and Prophet Amoako Atta

Mon, 3 Jul 2023 Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Prof Kwaku Asare, US-based lawyer and academic was the first to call on government through the Attorney General to drop criminal charges against Assin North Member of Parliament, James Gyakye Quayson.

His view was premised on the back of the June 27 by-election victory by the MP whose ouster from the lawmaking chamber via a Supreme Court ruling triggered the by-election.

Kwaku Azar as he is popularly known said the AG should file a nolle prosequi, which in law is an entry in the record of the court that a prosecutor will not proceed with a case.

"GOGO pleads with AG to nolle prosequi the criminal charges against MP-elect. Da Yie!" Azar's post of June 29 read.

Days on, his view has been reechoed by a paramount chief and a clergyman.

The paramount chief of the Dormaa Traditional Area and President of the Bono Regional House of Chiefs, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II, on June 2 appealed to the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, to as a matter of urgency, abort the trial against James Gyakye Quayson.

The traditional ruler while addressing a gathering said that the Attorney General should immediately file a nolle prosequi to discontinue the case in the larger public interest.

“As a matter of urgency, I am appealing to the Attorney-General, President of the Republic, if he has any role to play, that trial should be aborted. The Attorney-General should as a matter of urgency file a nolle prosequi to end that particular decision,” he emphasised.

On his part, the founder and leader of Parliament Chapel International, Prophet Amoako Atta described Gyakye Quayson as the Joseph of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

He stated during a sermon on July 2, 2023 that it was time the government tampers justice with mercy because of what he has seen of Quayson in the spiritual realm.

Amoako Atta stressed that it was prudent to abandon the case against Quayson because it was in his destiny that he is protected and cannot be destroyed.

“The man at Assin, you can tamper justice with mercy, because that man had everything abroad. Whatever he dreamt of and abandoned everything to come to Ghana to serve his people, be careful.

“That man is more than an MP, he is the Joseph in NDC. I have given that prophecy, write it down. Any attempt to destroy him won’t work,” he stressed.

James Quayson had pleaded not guilty to five charges of deceit of the public officer, forgery of passport or travel certificates, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury and false declaration for office.

The charges relate to his participation in the 2020 polls at a time he supposedly held dual citizenship.

The Accra High Court ordered a daily trial, which ruling has been challenged by his lawyers in the Court of Appeal.

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