The High Court in Accra will rule on the appeal for a stay of proceedings in the case involving Assin North lawmaker James Gyakye Quayson today, July 11.
The MP is being tried in Accra’s High Court on forgery and perjury allegations.
Lawyers for the beleaguered MP have asked the court to delay proceedings so that the Court of Appeal can consider its appeal against the trial judge’s decision to hear the case on a daily basis.
Tsatsu Tsikata, the team’s lead attorney, contended that any decision not to halt the proceedings would prejudge the appeal. However, the prosecution, led by Godfred Dame, opposed the application.
James Gyakye Quayson’s problems began with his declaration of intent to run for the Assin North Parliamentary seat in 2020, when a group calling itself ‘Concerned Citizens of Assin North’ petitioned the Electoral Commission in the Central Region to withdraw Mr Quayson’s candidature, claiming he was a Canadian citizen.
Despite the appeal, Mr Quayson was elected to represent the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2020 parliamentary elections, receiving 17,498 votes (55.21%), while the New Patriotic Party’s nominee received 14,193 votes (44.79%).
Following Mr Quayson’s victory, a citizen of Assin Bereku in the Central Region petitioned the Cape Coast High Court to nullify his election as MP.
On May 17, three years after the legal action began, the Supreme legal finished its procedures and instructed Parliament to remove his name from its records.
He later reclaimed the seat in a byelection.
