The Minister for Trade and Industry, Kobina Tahir (KT) Hammond, has said that the fate of the Member of Parliament for Assin Central, James Gyakye Quayson, has been determined.
According to him, Gyakye Quayson would be going to prison just like the former MP for Bawku Central, Adamu Dramani Sakande, who was imprisoned for lying about his Burkinabe and British citizenships.
Speaking in an interview with Oyerepa TV at Parliament on Monday, July 4, 2023, KT Hammond added that the case of Adamu Sakande is virtually the same as that of Gyakye Quayson and that is why he is set for prison.
“There is something we call precedence at the court… this is the same thing that happened with Adamu Sakande. He (Sakande) came to this house, the same NDC (National Democratic Congress) members were the ones who sacked him from parliament and took him to court. He was imprisoned and he eventually died and was buried. It is the same matter.
“They are making all kinds of noise about his swearing-in. I prompted the former deputy Attorney General, Dominic Ayine, to tell the gentleman (Quayson) that we have seen this before in this house. He should leave this house before he would be jailed.
“There is precedence, this is the same as the Adamu Sakande case. Adamu was jailed for having multiple citizenships and Quayson had the same issue. Now he (Quayson) has renounced his other citizenship and he is only Ghanaian… but laws he broke previously is what we are talking about,” he said in Twi.
KT Hammond, the MP for Adansi Asokwa, also criticised the Dormaahene, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II, for criticizing the ruling of the Supreme Court that led to the removal of Quayson as an MP and for calling on the state to drop the criminal case against the Assin North MP.
About Adamu Dramani Sakande case:
In July 2012, a New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Adamu Dramani Sakande, was convicted by an Accra High Court after he was found guilty of perjury and forgery.
This was after he failed to denounce UK Citizenship before contesting for the Bawku seat.
He was found guilty of perjury and forgery and was jailed for two years concurrently on all counts.
A Bawku-based cattle dealer, Sumaila Bielbiel, challenged the status of the Member of Parliament (MP)
for Bawku Central, Adamu Daramani Sakande in the law-making body due to his dual citizenship.
The former MP was accused of registering as a voter when the voters’ register was opened and subsequently voting in the December 2008 general elections, when he was not entitled to do so.
About the Gyakye Quayson case:
The Supreme Court of Ghana, on May 17, 2023, ordered the Parliament of Ghana to expunge the name of James Gyakye Quayson as a Member of Parliament (MP)
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 declared that Quayson was not qualified at the time he contested the election 2020 in the Michael Ankomah Nimfah vrs James Gyakye Quayson case.
According to the court, the ousted Assin North MP failed to prove that he had renounced his Canadian citizenship when he filed his nomination to contest the 2020 general elections.
Parliament subsequently declared the Assin North seat vacant, leading to the Electoral Commission of Ghana announcing a by-election on May 27, 2023, to fill the seat.
But there is still one case the former MP has to face in court after the Office of the Attorney General accused him of deceiving public officers to acquire state documents.
On February 12, 2022, the State charged James Gyakye Quayson with five counts; deceit of a public officer, forgery of a passport, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury, and false declaration.
Watch KT Hammond’s remarks in the video below: