Audio By Carbonatix
The Minority Caucus has accused government of seeking to gain undue advantage in Parliament, by deliberately going after the Member of Parliament for the Assin North constituency, James Gyekye Quayson.
Addressing the press on Wednesday, the Minority said it has taken note of "the bizarre and worrying development orchestrated by the desperate NPP Government to unseat the duly elected Member of Parliament for Assin North, the Hon. James Gyekye Quayson".
The Minority also stated that, it is "deeply concerned by that blatantly unconstitutional act which was recognized by the Supreme Court for what it is - a brazen violation of the Constitution. We applaud the justices of the Supreme Court for upholding the fidelity of the law by pointing out to the desperate lawyers of the NPP the brazenly unconstitutional nature of the attempt to serve a sitting MP on the precincts of Parliament. We urge the Court to continue to uphold the sanctity of the Constitution".
On Tuesday, a bailiff tasked to give court documents to MP James Gyekye Quayson says he was thrown out of the legislator’s office by a bodyguard. This was revealed by Supreme Court Registrar, Mathew Antiaye, who was asked to brief the Court on the matter.
On separate occasions, court officials at the Supreme Court and prosecutors at the High Court have pointed out their inability to find the MP to hand him court processes.
The action at the Supreme Court is among other things, seeking to restrain the MP from performing Parliamentary duties. There is another criminal case in which the MP is accused of forgery and perjury.
On the alleged assault of the bailiff, the court asked that the Registrar submits a report to the Chief Justice for investigation and appropriate action.
Reacting to this, the Minority said, "We are also aware that the said bailiff of the Supreme Court Registry is alleged to have informed the Court that he was assaulted by the police escort of the Hon. Member for Assin North. We wish to emphasize that the Honorable Member for Assin North, Hon. James Gyekye Quayson, does not have a police guard let alone a police escort to prevent service. This fact can be cross-checked from the Ghana Police Service".
According to the Minority, the attempts to effect service of a court process on James Gyekye Quayson in his office in Parliament is a "flagrant disregard of the privileges of Parliament and breach of the Constitution".
"It is clear that in their desperate attempt to implicate the Hon. Member in acts of criminality, the NPP lawyers are now seeking to concoct facts to justify criminal charges against the Hon. Member. This is a sad development for our democracy and we wish to condemn it in no uncertain terms", the statement concluded.
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