Ernest Owusu Bempah, a deputy Director of Communications of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has defended an audio purported to be from one Charlotte, Canada-based daughter of ousted Member of Parliament for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson.

Bempah insists that the audio is authentic despite an express disclaimer by the National Democratic Congress that it was fake and among others, a “desperate and maliciously-contrived audio message.”

The NDC through its National Communications Officer Sammy Gyamfi dismissed the viral recording asking Ghanaians to give it no credence.

Owusu Bempah in a statement published shortly after that of Gyamfi said: “I have just cited a statement under the hand of the National Communications Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi. In the said statement, Sammy Gyamfi sought to water down the content of the very explosive audio from the daughter of Gyakye Quayson.

“Intriguingly, Gyakye Quayson’s daughter in a new audio is worried about how the NDC is leading her father on, even as the continuing criminal charges against him gather momentum.

"She fears her father risks going to jail, and as such, she is berating and blaming the NDC for his misfortune. To the extent that Gyakye Quayson’s daughter went as far as calling the Assin-North constituents as villagers, who are not worthy to be toiled for makes Sammy Gyamfi’s intervention laughable.

“In any case, what is Sammy Gyamfi talking about here? If he so feels the audio in circulation isn’t Quayson’s daughter, why is he pointing accusing fingers to the NPP?”

Gyakye Quayson was ousted as MP for Assin North via a Supreme Court ruling that found errors in his candidature in the 2020 elections due to his status as a dual citizen at the time, which position the NDC contests.

His removal as MP has occasioned a by-election slated for June 27 in which the NDC is presenting him as their candidate.

On February 12, 2022, the State charged James Gyakye Quayson with five counts; deceit of a public officer, forgery of a passport, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury, and false declaration.

Background:

The High Court in Accra, on Friday (June 18, 2023), ruled that the ongoing criminal trial of ousted Assin North Member of Parliament, James Gyakye Quayson, will be heard daily starting from Tuesday, June 20, 2023.

This was after the presiding judge, Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, turned down an application for the trial to be adjourned till after the by-election.

The Court has since fixed June 20, 21, and 23 for the trial to continue.

Quayson was recently ousted from parliament after the Supreme Court of Ghana ruled that he was ineligible to contest in the 2020 parliamentary election because he failed to renounce his Canadian citizenship in time.

But there is still one case the former MP has to face in court after the Office of the Attorney General accused him of deceiving public officers to acquire state documents.



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