The High Court’s order from November 3, 2023, according to the Presiding Judge in the trial of James Gyakye Quayson, the Member of Parliament for Assin North, was error-free.
The Court ruled that the case would be tried in absentia if the accused and his attorneys did not show up for the upcoming session.
The reason for this was that on November 3, 2023, when the case was called before the court, Mr. Quayson’s attorneys failed to show up.
Since Quayson held dual citizenship with Ghana and Canada at the time he submitted his nomination to compete in the 2020 election, the Supreme Court first ruled that his election as the Member of Parliament for Assin North was illegal.
But the people of Assin North Constituency re-elected him to serve as their representative in Parliament in a by-election organized by the Electoral Commission.
At the High Court, he is currently accused of perjury and misleading a public official.
Judge Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh claims that Mr. Quayson and his defense team, headed by Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, also disregarded the opportunity to participate in the trial through a virtual link.
On November 3, 2023, the court declared that technical difficulties prevented the proceedings from July 19, 2023, from being recovered when the first prosecution witness was in the witness box.
It said that on November 9, 2023, the Court notified the parties that the proceedings from July 18, 2023, had been confused with those on July 19, 2023, before the counsel started the cross-examination of the witness.
Mr. Tsikata was given an hour by Justice Yanzuh to do the cross-examination on July 19, 2023, if necessary. However, he did not object and proceeded to cross-examine the witness for two hours.
She made the point that losing proceedings might occur for several reasons and was not an uncommon occurrence.
Judge Yanzuh stated that the witness was still in the box at the time, and Mr. Quayson’s attorney chose to bring up the matter later in the day following additional cross-examination of the witness.
The previous Director of Passport, who is presently the High Commissioner in India, was to testify next, according to the DPP.
She prayed that a video link would be used to record his testimony. The lawsuit was postponed until February 16, 2024.
