On Tuesday, July 18, the trial of James Gyakye Quayson, the Member of Parliament for Assin North, continued with the cross-examination of the prosecution’s first witness. This came after weeks of attempts by the accused’s lawyers to halt proceedings.
The lawyers for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) legislator had filed proceedings at the Court of Appeal and invoked the supervisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. These actions were in response to the trial judge’s decision not to stay proceedings and to hear the case on a daily basis.
However, when the case was called on Tuesday, Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame clarified that none of the applications filed had the effect of staying the proceedings or compelling the court to halt the hearing.
As a result, counsel for the accused, Gyakye Quayson, Tsatsu Tsikata, proceeded with the cross-examination of the prosecution’s first witness.
During the cross-examination, Tsatsu Tsikata raised questions about the Electoral Commission’s clearance of the accused to contest the 2020 elections despite a complaint lodged with the commission regarding the accused’s allegiance to a country other than Ghana.
In response, the witness, Richard Takyi-Mensah, explained that to the best of his knowledge, the commission’s decision was based on the information provided by the accused during the clearance process.
Source – citinewsroom.com
