Supreme Court declares James Gyakye Quayson unqualified to be MP and orders parliament to expunge his name

The Supreme Court of Ghana has ordered Parliament to remove James Gyakye Quayson’s name from the Member of Parliament’s list. This verdict comes as the apex court also prohibits Mr. Quayson from holding himself as an MP. According to citinewsroom.com, the seven-member panel of judges upheld the petition filed by Michael Ankomah-Nimfa, a former MP of Assin North. The panel includes Justice Jones Victor Dotse, Justice Nene Amegatcher, Justice Mariama Owusu, Gertrude Araba Torkornoo, Justice Prof. Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Justice Yonny Kulendi, and Justice Barbara Ackah-Yensu.

The Supreme Court declared that Mr. Quayson was unqualified to contest the 2020 parliamentary election, resulting in his removal as an MP. Mr. Quayson was facing charges of deceit of a public officer, forgery of a passport, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury, and false declaration.

The case began in February 2021 when James Gyakye Quayson was charged with five counts of deceit of a public officer, forgery of a passport, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury, and false declaration. The trial continued in July 2022, where his legal team, led by Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata, challenged the competency of the Prosecution’s First Witness, Richard Takyi-Mensah, a teacher, and his subsequent witness statement’s admissibility. Despite the objection, the trial Judge, Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzu, overruled Tsikata’s objection and admitted the witness statements and paragraphs.

However, Mr. Quayson and his legal team filed a motion at the Supreme Court challenging the trial judge’s decision and seeking to quash the ruling and prohibit the judge.

–The Post Ghana