Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, has said that she was shocked when she heard President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo say that the people of Assin North would have no use of a Member Parliament going to jail.
Speaking to GhanaWeb’s Nimatu Yakubu at one of the polling stations of the ongoing Assin North by-election, Brew Appiah-Oppong said that the comments of the president, who is a lawyer by training, were unfortunate.
According to her, President Akufo-Addo’s comments were prejudicial since the case is still in court and very worrying.
“The first question I asked myself when I heard this comment was… how did he know he (Quayson) was going to go to jail?
“Secondly, it was surprising that coming from a very seasoned lawyer (Akufo-Addo) to make such a statement. And I think it was unacceptable,” she said.
What Akufo-Addo said:
Speaking to residents of Assin North, on Sunday, June 27, 2023, at a Church of Pentecost in the constituency, Akufo-Addo refuted assertions that he and his New Patriotic Party (NPP) government are the ones behind the prosecution of the removed MP. He told the residents that it’s the laws of the country that is catching up with Gyakye Quayson.
The president added that there is no use in voting for an MP who is going to be jailed, as he was reacting to claims by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that Quayson would be voted for even if he is jailed.
“I have heard him (Quayson) say that even if he is in prison, you would vote for him. Eiii! What is the use of voting for someone who would be going to jail? What benefit are we going to get from that?
“We want someone who after the election can come to me so we sit and find solutions to your challenges,” he said in the Twi dialect, as he was pointing to the candidate of the NPP for the by-elections; Charles Owusu.