The Member of Parliament for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson has been flown to Canada to undergo a critical health emergency.
He is therefore unable to be present in Court.
Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, lawyer for Gyakye Quayson told the Accra High Court trying him for alleged perjury and forgery over his acquisition of a Ghanaian passport.
“My Lady, Joe Quayson is not in court for a very good reason. The accused person is out of the country,” Tsatsu Tsikata told the Judge when she inquired about the whereabouts of the Assin North legislator.
Earlier, Mr. Tsikata had indicated to the court that they had had the occasion to provide the court, sitting in chambers, with a medical note from the doctor attending to him.
He stated that the hearing in clambers was at their request on account of the confidential nature of Mr. Quayson’s medical situation.
“We have since become aware of the sitting of the court on the 3rd of November through a media report, and we have this morning written to the registrar, both about the media report and also seeking certified true copies of the record of what took place on the 3rd of November,” he told the court.
Mr. Tsikata says he delivered a letter personally on Thursday morning to the registrar, in his attempt to get what transpired on November 03, 2023, but there was no success.
The letter, he averred, made it quite clear that neither the accused nor the lawyers were aware that the court would sit on the 3rd of November. He stated that they had notified the court by a letter dated the 30th of October that on the 27th of October, the court was not able to sit, and they gave their scheduled time but they were notified that at an earlier time, an Assistant State Attorney had come to court and had requested the date on November 03, 2023.
“We tried to reach her without any success. We have an indication that November 17, 2923, was our preferred date. We did not hear any response to that letter and we had no idea of what transpired on November 3, 2023, on what the court had said on this case.”
“I have spoken to the accused person and he is going to provide full details from doctors in Canada of his medical situation. In the meantime, he has instructed me to contact a medical doctor in Ghana who has examined him just before he travelled.”
Tsatsu’s pleas notwithstanding, Justice Mary Yanzuh, presiding, asked Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata to cross-examine a witness, Richard Tachie Mensah.