Gyakye Quayson appeals high court day-by-day ruling

Ousted Member of Parliament for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson, has challenged the ruling of the High Court in Accra that stated that his criminal trial would be heard on a daily basis.

Gyakye Quayson, through his lawyer, applied to the High Court for a review of the ruling on constitutional grounds.

The lawyer for Quayson argued that the ruling of the court was made after an oral application without notice to the accused person, which is against good practice.

“…on behalf of the Accused/Applicant herein praying the Court for a review and/or variation of orders of the court that the trial now proceed from day to day and, consequently, fixing 20th to 23rd June 2023, for continuation of the trial, upon the grounds set out in the accompanying affidavit and related constitutional and legal grounds.

“The oral application by the Attorney-General, who was appearing for the first time in this trial, for the case to be heard from day to day was made without any notice to the accused person or his counsel and took us by surprise.

“No prejudice whatsoever would be occasioned to the prosecution by this Honourable Court setting dates after 27 June 2023 for the continuation of the trial, whilst there is clear prejudice to the accused/applicant-as shown herein - if the court maintains its orders of 16th June 2023,” parts of court documents sighted by GhanaWeb read.

“In the light of all of the above, it is most reasonable and in the interest of justice that this Honourable Court should review and/or vary its orders for day-to-day hearings from 20th to 23th June 2023 before the Assin North Constituency Parliamentary by-election set for 27th June 2023,” it added.

The High Court in Accra, on Friday (June 18, 2023), ruled that the ongoing criminal trial of ousted Assin North Member of Parliament, James Gyakye Quayson, will be heard daily starting from Tuesday, June 20, 2023.

This was after the presiding judge, Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, turned down an application for the trial to be adjourned till after the by-election.

The court has since fixed June 20, 21, and 23 for the trial to continue.

Quayson was recently ousted from parliament after the Supreme Court of Ghana ruled that he was ineligible to contest the 2020 parliamentary election because he failed to renounce his Canadian citizenship in time.

But there is still one case the former MP has to answer in court after the Office of the Attorney General accused him of deceiving public officers to acquire state documents.

On February 12, 2022, the state charged James Gyakye Quayson with five counts: deceit of a public officer, forgery of a passport, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury, and false declaration.

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