The Deputy Minister for Energy, Andrew Mercer Agyapa, has refuted assertions that the ousted Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson, is being prosecuted because the New Patriotic Party (NPP) wants a majority in parliament.

According to him, the ousted MP committed a crime and the fact that his conviction would affect the numbers at parliament is not a reason for him not to be prosecuted.

Speaking in a TV3 interview shared on Facebook on Monday, June 19, 2023, Agyapa Mercer added that the evidence is clear that Gyakye Quayson committed a crime and he has no doubt that he would be jailed.

“This gentleman who is taking the NDC’s abuse willingly, violated the statutory declaration, saying that he owed no allegiance to any other country.

“And I hear some argument to the effect that the man had tendered his application to the Canadian authorities, really and that is exculpatory. Are we serious?”

The deputy energy minister who is also the Member of Parliament for Sekondi, added, “What kind of joke is this? What kind of joke is this? The law is clear on this... He had another citizenship other than Ghana… he is going to jail.”

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.

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.

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