Leave Our Son Alone- Assin North Queen Mothers and Chiefs Appeal to Prez

Queen Mothers and Chiefs of Assin-North Constituency in the Central Region have appealed to President Akufo-Addo and the Attorney General, to consider halting the prosecution of their son and Member of Parliament Elect, Hon James Gakye Quayson.

According to them, Hon Quayson’s is not a criminal and that the continue criminal trial amounted to persecution rather than prosecution.

The Queen Mothers led by Nana Hemaa Ntiamoah of Assin Bereku, made the appeal on Tuesday at a press conference at Parliament House in Accra after the swearing-in of Mr Gyakye Quayson by Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin.

The Queen Mothers said for the shake of the wider national interest and as well as a goodwill gesture of the government towards the people of the Assin North Constituency, the AG should withdraw the case.

Mr Gyakye Quayson emerged victorious in the June 27th, Parliamentary by-election with 57.56 per cent of the valid votes cast.

The by-election was necessitated by the ruling of the Supreme Court, which declared the election of Mr Gyakye Quayson in the December 7, 2020, General Election as unconstitutional, null and void.

In a unanimous decision on May 17, 2023, a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court ordered Parliament to expunge the name of Mr Quayson as MP.

The court held that as of the time Mr Gyakye Quayson filed his nomination forms in October 2020, to contest for the Assin North seat, he had not renounced his Canadian citizenship and, therefore, was not qualified per Article 94(2)(a) of the Constitution.

The Attorney-General has subsequently instituted criminal charges against Mr Gyakye Quayson at an Accra High Court.

The Court has decided that it would hear the case on a daily basis.

But Nana Hemaa Ntiamoah avert that prosecuting Gyakye Quayson, will affect development in the Assin North Constituency.

“We are appealing to President Nana Akufo-Addo and the Attorney-General to try and withdraw the case against Mr Gyakye Quayson from court. It has happened already, and Mr Gyakye Quayson is the choice of the people. We have chosen him to lead us (as our MP),” the Queenmother said.

The Queen Mother said her call on the President to discontinue the criminal charges against Mr Gyakye Quayson was also in line with that of Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang-Badu II, the Paramount Chief of Dormaa Traditional Area and President of the Bono Regional House of Chiefs.

On his part, Nana Frimpong Baah, Assin Bereku Kyedomhene, also appealed to the President to have mercy on the people of Assin North Constituency by discontinuing the criminal charges against their MP.

He reiterated that what the Assin North Constitueneededeeds was unity and development.