The Minority Leader in Parliament, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, has warned that his caucus will intensify its protest against the criminal trial of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs have been boycotting sittings of the House whenever the embattled Assin North legislator is due to appear in court for his ongoing trial on charges of forgery and perjury. The MPs have accused the government of persecuting their member and have demanded that Quayson's trial should be dropped.

Dr Ato Forson, in an interview on JoyNews on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, said that they would do more than just boycott sittings of the House starting from next week.

He said that the government would have to choose between its business in Parliament and prosecuting Quayson on a daily basis.

"If we sit unconcerned for the government to pick our members one by one and persecute them like the way they are doing to our colleague James Gyakye Quayson, they will come after every one of us.

"We have decided as a caucus to ensure that every day or any day that our colleague will be invited to go to court, we will go with him. They (the government) will have to contend with that. If they want him to be in the courtroom on a daily basis, we will also be there on a daily basis.

"The government will have to choose government business against Gyakye Quayson's appearance on a daily basis. If they want us to assist the government to run, then they will have to choose wisely… This is our first activity that we are doing. We may escalate to signal our displeasure to the government and there are so many other things we are going to do in the coming days," he said.

Ato Forson, who is also the MP for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam, rejected the claim that his caucus is hurting Ghanaians with their decision.

He said that it is the "insensitive" Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government that is making the people of Ghana suffer.

Background

James Gyakye Quayson is facing trial for allegedly making false statements to the Passport Office and the Electoral Commission (EC) when he applied for a Ghanaian passport and filed his nomination as a candidate for the Assin North seat in 2020.

He is accused of holding dual citizenship of Ghana and Canada at the time of filing his nomination, which disqualified him from contesting as per the Supreme Court's interpretation of the 1992 Constitution.

He had initiated moves to renounce his Canadian citizenship before the 2020 election but had not received his renunciation certificate at the time of filing with the EC.

His election was subsequently annulled by a Cape Coast High Court and a by-election was held on June 27, 2023. He won the by-election after receiving his renunciation certificate and is set to be sworn in as MP for Assin North.

However, his criminal trial is still ongoing at an Accra High Court, which has ruled that it will hear the case on a day-to-day basis starting from July 4, 2023. His lawyers, led by Tsatsu Tsikata, have filed an appeal against this ruling.