Member of Parliament for Asawase, Muntaka Mubarak, is convinced come hell or high water, James Gyakye Quayson is going to win the Assin-North seat and retain it.

Speaking in an exclusive interview on JoyNews’ PM Express, he said, the worst state prosecutors can do to Gyakye Quayson is to imprison him, but even that will not stop the aspiring MP from retaining his seat.

Gyakye Quayson is facing charges of forgery and perjury concerning certain alleged offences in the run-up to the 2020 Assin North parliamentary election.

He has been charged with five counts of forgery of passport or travel certificate, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury and false declaration for office.

If found guilty, he could spend up to 10 years behind bars.

However, Muntaka Mubarak is convinced even the fear of prison will not deter Gyakye Quayson and the NDC from winning and retaining the Assin North seat.

“I have told him, ‘chief, you may end up in prison but you’ll keep the seat.’ Kwame Nkrumah was in prison when he first became a Member of Parliament. A lot of freedom fighters, a lot of people had gone to prison for wrong reasons, people for no wrong done, they survived it,” he said.

He noted that the current mental fortitude Gyakye Quayson has built ahead of his trial is all that matters to the party, and will ensure his victory.

“This is somebody who had lived a very long time abroad. I mean he is not a young man, so he is used to a system where systems work, the system works to everybody, I mean, you could predict how things will happen. And then he comes into a system where you cannot predict anything. And he’s like initially he gets almost depressed.

“So to prepare that person for him to get to where he is believe me if this thing had happened within the first six months of him becoming a member of parliament maybe it will be different thing. But it has happened at a time that he is really prepared mentally for it.

“And I can bet you, you heard him, he said that ‘look if you want get me a room in the court where I’ll have to be sleeping in the court and attending the court, I will still win.’ That’s all we needed, for him to be mentally tough and be ready to go through all the hell that he may be put through and still win the seat,” he said.

He added that, “All what matters for us next week Tuesday, Gyakye Quayson is going to keep the seat, they can do their worst. The worst they can do is to imprison him, he will still keep the seat. That seat will not be in their hands.”