State Prosecutors say all efforts to serve Assin North MP, James Gyakye Quayson with criminal summons have proved futile.

The MP is accused of deceiving a public officer, forgery of passport or travel certificate, knowingly making a false statutory declaration and perjury.

He was expected to respond to these charges on Thursday, February 3, but a failure to show up in court resulted in an adjournment to February 9.

On Tuesday, February 1, the Supreme Court issued an order to stop Mr. Quayson from being addressed as part of the Legislature.

The order comes after reports revealed that the accused is not fit to be a Member of Parliament for the reason of possessing dual citizenship which contravenes Article 94(2)(a) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.

This action by the Supreme Court denies him from performing any further parliamentary duties.

The Assin North’s win of the parliamentary election was annulled by the Cape Coast High Court and an interlocutory injunction was placed on the accused's swearing-in. According to the lawyers of Mr. Quayson, the accused is nowhere to be found, hence his absence at the court.

The court directed that the MP be informed of the new date.

The criminal summons filed in the court recount the facts of the case as follows:

“The brief facts of this case are that the accused person, James Gyakye Quayson is the Member of Parliament for Assin North Constituency. The complainant, Richard Takyi-Mensah is a teacher and a resident of Yamoransa in the Central Region of Ghana. On 26th July, 2019, the accused person signed an application form for a Republic of Ghana passport. In the application form, he indicated that he is a Ghanaian and does not have a dual citizenship.

The accused at the time held a Canadian citizenship issued on 30th October, 2016 but failed to declare same on the application form. The passport application of the accused person was vetted on the 29th of July, 2019. Based on this false information together with the other information provided by the accused person on the passport application form, he was issued with a Ghanaian passport, number G2538667 on 2nd August, 2019.

Again, before the 2020 General Elections was held on 7th December, 2020, nominations were opened between the 5th and the 9th of October, 2020. The accused person picked up nomination forms to contest for the position of Member of Parliament for Assin North Constituency. The accused person at the time was a Ghanaian and a Canadian citizen, making him have dual citizenship. He was therefore disqualified under Article 94(2)(a) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana from being a Member of Parliament.

In Part IV of the nomination forms of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, the accused person used a statutory declaration which he had sworn to on 6th October, 2020 before the District Court Registrar at Assin Fosu stating that he does not owe allegiance to any country other than Ghana.

The accused person further went ahead to file his nomination forms on 8th October, 2020 with the false information in the statutory declaration. Based on this false information together with other information provided by the accused person in the nomination forms, his nomination was accepted by the Electoral Commission.

He contested for the position and subsequently won the seat. The accused person was issued a Certificate of Renunciation of his Canadian citizenship dated 26th November 2020, about forty-eight days after he had made the false statutory declaration and filed his nomination forms.

On 14th January, 2021, the Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department received a petition dated 11th January, 2021 from the complainant in which the complainant reported these actions of the accused, leading to investigations against him. In his cautioned statement to the police, the accused person claimed that at the material time, he honestly believed that he did not owe allegiance to any other country. The accused person was subsequently charged with the offences in the charge sheet.

It is based on these facts that the accused person, James Gyakye Quayson has been arraigned for trial.”