Trial of Gyakye Quayson unfair to Assin North people, end it now! - Atik tells A-G

Atik Mohammed has supported President of the Bono Regional House of Chiefs and the Omanhene of the Dormaa Traditional Area, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II that the Attorney General should discontinue the criminal charge against the newly elected Member of Parliament for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson.

James Gyakye Quayson was re-elected by the constituents of Assin North after a by-election which was necessitated by his exit from Parliament following a Supreme Court ruling that delegitimized his election into the Legislative House.

Mr. Gyakye Quayson was cited for holding a dual citizenship during the 2020 parliamentary elections and was since an MP in absentia, hence being denied of the opportunity to serve his constituents.

However, his political party, the National Democratic Congress presented him again during the by-election held on Tuesday, June 27, 2023 and he had a resounding victory.

Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II, speaking at the 10th-anniversary lecture of John Evans Atta Mills in Sunyani, made a solemn appeal to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to intervene and ensure an end to the trial of Mr. Gyakye Quayson.

“As a matter of urgency, I am appealing to the President of the Republic, Attorney General 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”, Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II. who is a sitting High Court Judge, known in judicial practice as His Lordship, Justice Daniel Mensah said, adding that he doesn't “see the benefits this prosecution will bring Ghanaians. If he is in court, he can’t fulfil his mandate so the president and the Attorney General should do something urgently to end this matter, so we move on as Ghanaians”.

Atik Mohammed has also asked the Attorney General to file a nolle prosequi and halt the trial, stressing it is not fair for the people of Assin North to be denied another chance to have a parliamentary representation.

"Once they have elected someone, it is only fair that the person who has been elected would represent them but it didn't turn out in such manner. So, if they have voted again in a by-election and there is a likelihood that if care is not taken, they might very soon be denied again the opportunity to be represented, I feel it's worrying. But it is a tricky one because it also has the tendency to create the impression that if you commit a crime and you are a Parliamentarian, your treatment is different. So, it's kind of a hard balance to strike," he said on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' morning show.

Atik argued that his suggestion for an end to the criminal trial of Mr. Gyakye Quayson is premised on the reason that "given the peculiar circumstances of Mr. Gyakye Quayson, if possible the Attorney General would consider [you know] a way of discontinuing the case at least for now to allow the people of Assin North get the full benefits of representation".

"I support the idea he should favour the suggestion that he should consider this nolle prosequi," he added.