Adansi Asokwa MP, K.T. Hammond, has advised the Assin North MP, Gyakye Quayson, not to be swayed by the support from members of his Caucus to breach court orders.
According to him, despite the NDC Caucus’ decision to support his continuous stay in Parliament, he will go to jail alone if he is incarcerated.
“Indeed, I venture to say that don’t let these guys applaud you from high hell to whatever, because in the end when you go to prison they won’t even take you and see you off to Nsawam gate,” he stated.
Speaking to the media, Mr Hammond charged the embattled MP to submit himself to due process.
“When this matter of his alleged citizenship came about, I personally called then former Deputy Attorney-General and spoke to him about it. I told Dominic Ayine to warn our brother that if what they are talking about is true, he should leave because the provision in article 105 of the Constitution is pretty clear beyond argument,” he said.
But when the NDC realised that Mr Quayson’s stay in the House gave them enough numbers to vote for Alban Bagbin as Speaker, they supported his decision to stay in Parliament despite the fact that an injunction had been secured to bar him from performing any duty as an MP, the Adansi Asokwa MP added.
Mr Hammond said he does not want the case of late Bawku Central MP, Adamu Sakande, who was imprisoned under similar circumstances, to repeat itself.
“I wouldn’t cry about whatever happens to him (Gyakye Quayson), because we warned him from day one that he was playing with a big big inflammable fire,” he stated.
On Wednesday, July 28, 2021, a Cape Coast High Court cancelled the 2020 Parliamentary election results of the Assin North Constituency.
The Court, presided over by Justice Kwasi Boakye, ordered for a new election to be conducted in the Constituency.
Mr Quayson was not eligible to contest the 2020 polls as he held dual citizenship at the time. He has since been fighting to set aside the case currently pending at the Court of Appeal.
But, in the first week of February 2022, the governing NPP took the case to the Supreme Court praying the Court to halt NDC MP for Assin North, Mr Quayson, from holding himself as a parliamentarian.
According to the NPP’s Director of Elections, Evans Nimako, the party will employ the judicial process to stop the MP from attending Parliament.
Reacting to the suit, the NDC said this is the NPP’s attempt to reduce the number of MPs the Minority has in the House so they could push through with the passing of the controversial E-levy Bill.
But, Mr Hammond has denied the claims, stating that the suit Mr Quayson faces is only as a result of his own actions.
“Who in their right frame of mind would suggest that for that reason a government of the day would want to arrest members of Parliament, we practice democracy in Ghana.”
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has expressed readiness to probe the alleged assault of a Court bailiff, Joshua Baming, by the bodyguards of Mr Quayson.
This was after the bailiff tasked to give court documents to Mr Quayson said he was thrown out of the legislator’s office by a bodyguard.
The Court, headed by Justice Jones Dotse, has therefore instructed the Court Registrar, Matthew Antiaye, to make available a comprehensive report on the alleged assault of the Court’s official.
Judge Jones Dotse gave this directive while ruling on the substantive matter of the Court’s inability to serve Mr Quayson with summons.
The report by the Court Registrar will subsequently be given to the Chief Justice, Justice Anin-Yeboah, for investigations to begin.
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