A former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Nii Ayikoi Otoo, has joined calls for the prosecution of Assin North MP-elect, James Gyakye Quayson to be discontinued.
Mr Otoo, who is a stalwart of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has said it will be good for the party to do that for the sake of future elections in the constituency.
“In the matter of negotiations, if we [NPP] want to win elections in Assin North next time and we go on with this trend and then we convict him, in the likely event that we convict him, and then he gets out again, we are going to go into another bye-election, this time not with him, but what will the people of Assin North think of the NPP?
“Will they be ever comfortable voting us into power, will they decide never to forgive us anymore? This is what we should be looking at,” he admonished in an interview on Accra-based Citi FM.
His comment was a reaction to a call by the Dormaahene and President of the Bono Regional House of Chiefs, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II, to the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, to intervene in the prosecution of Mr Quayson.
Speaking at the 10th-anniversary lecture of John Evans Atta Mills, in Sunyani, Osagyefo Agyemang Badu, who’s a sitting High Court Judge, known in judicial practice as His Lordship, Justice Daniel Mensah, insisted the President should take steps to halt the trial.
He also called on the Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame “to as a matter of urgency file a nolle prosequi to end that particular decision.”
The chief’s comment has widely been condemned with the Attorney General describing it as unhealthy while Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has also indicated it can affect his promotion as a judge.
However, the former Ghana High Commissioner to Canada, noted a discontinuation of the case does not lie solely with the Attorney General, adding he can only take the action upon cabinet approval.
“It will be a good thing to enter a nolle prosequi and stop all this to show more maturity but you cannot as an Attorney-General do it on your own, you are not independent, you are part of a whole.
“The Attorney-General is bound by Cabinet decision and Cabinet secrecy even if he disagrees, once it has been taken, you are bound. So, if you ask me, what I will tell you is that there is the need for some negotiation, a broader conversation on the matter,” he explained.
Mr Quayson is facing criminal charges brought against him after he lost his seat as Member of Parliament for Assin North for allegedly failing to renounce his dual citizenship status before filing to contest the 2022 parliamentary elections.
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