The Court of Appeal has dismissed an application for a stay of proceedings filed by the embattled Assin North MP James Gyakye Quayson.
Mr. Quayson, who has been stripped of his title as an MP, wanted the Court of Appeal to halt the trial at an Accra High Court where he has been accused of perjury.
Counsel for the embattled MP, Tsatsu Tsikata, prayed to stay proceedings at the High Court on Thursday.
Explaining why it was necessary to halt proceedings, Mr Tsikata raised concerns regarding three of the five criminal charges slapped against his client.
He stated that Count 3, which is knowingly making a false statutory declaration, Count 4, which is perjury, and Count 5, which is a false declaration for office, will require a Supreme Court interpretation, and thus the need to stay proceedings.
According to Mr. Tsikata, “due process in a criminal charge requires an accused to be aware of the elements of the charge that has been brought against him, and that is why the issues of Article 94 (2)(a) is key in the matter.”
A Principal State Attorney Richard Gyembiby opposed the application because the applicant did not meet the threshold for a stay to be granted. He, therefore, urged the court to dismiss the application.
The Court of Appeal sided with the prosecution and refused the request.
The panel of three presided over by Justice Henry Anthony Kwoffie ruled that the applicant [James Quayson] has not demonstrated any exceptional circumstances that warrant the grant of the stay of proceedings.
The Assin North MP is also facing two counts of the deceit of a public officer (Count 1) and forgery of passport or travel certificates (Count 2).
It will be recalled that on February 9, the Accra High Court issued a criminal summons against the Assin North MP.
He has pleaded not guilty to all five charges and has been granted a GHc100, 000 bail.
Mr. Quayson has since April 13 been barred from performing his parliamentary duties until the substantive case challenging his citizenship is heard.
The Accra High Court is yet to fix a date for the commencement of the perjury trial.
Facts
The facts by the prosecution indicated that Mr. Quayson was charged with the offences following a complaint by Richard Takyi-Mensah, a teacher, and subsequent investigations by the police.
On July 26, 2019, Mr. Quayson is said to have applied for a Ghanaian passport and indicated on the application form that he did not have dual citizenship.
But per the facts, the accused, at the time, held Canadian citizenship issued to him on October 30, 2016.
He, however, failed to declare same on the application form. The passport application of the accused person was vetted on July 29, 2019.
The prosecution said that based on this false information, together with the other information provided by the accused person on the passport application form, he was issued a Ghanaian passport on August 2, 2019.
Sometime in October 2020, Mr. Quayson picked up nomination forms from the Electoral Commission (EC) to contest the Assin North parliamentary seat but failed to indicate that he had dual citizenship.
Mr. Quayson was issued a renunciation certificate of his Canadian citizenship on November 26, 2020, about 48 days after he had made the false statutory declaration and filed his nomination forms.
These are the facts for which the embattled legislator is in court.