The Returning Officer of the Electoral Commission(EC) for the Assin North constituency, Nana Kojo Amponsah has testified in the case in which James Gyakye Quayson is standing trial for criminal offenses including perjury.
Nana Amponsah as part of his evidence told the Criminal Division of the High Court in Accra that, he received the nomination form of James Quayson, the current Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North Constituency.
The Returning Officer said, his duties include “publication of notice of the poll, ensuring that the nomination form of the candidates are received and the polling station and numbers of the proposers and seconders of the candidates are verified.”
Mr Amponsah, who was in Court as the 2nd Prosecution’s Witness also told the High Court presided over by Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh that, he received the nomination forms of Mr Quayson on October 8, 2020.
“I received the nomination form from the accused in person at 2:03pm and accepted same at 2:09pm on Thursday, 8th October 2020 and endorsed it to that effect,” the Returning Officer told the Criminal Division of the High Court.
Meanwhile, prior to the identification of the nomination form supposedly received from the accused in court, lawyers of James Gyakye Quayson led by Tsatsu Tsikata objected to its identification as same was not the original copy.
But, the Court said, the document was only being identified and not to be tendered in evidence, the witness was then allowed to identify the said photocopy version of the nomination form.
While being led by the Deputy Attorney General Alfred Tuah-Yeboah to give his evidence-in-chief to the Court, the witness said he knew James Quayson.
He told the Court that, the accused was the parliamentary aspirant for Assin North Constituency and sometime in October 2020, the Electoral Commission issued online nomination forms to the accused and other aspiring members of Parliament.
The trial is currently being held in absentia (absence) of Mr Quayson who is said to be in Canada for medical evaluation but the Court said no records of his reports has been furnished to it.
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