The Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has described recent comment by the Dormaahene, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II, on the James Gyakye Quayson case as “unhealthy.”
The chief has appealed to President Nana Akufo-Addo and the Attorney General to as a matter of urgency stop the trial of the MP of Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson.
Quayson is facing charges of forgery and perjury in relation to certain alleged offences in the run up to the 2020 parliamentary election. He has pleaded not guilty to five counts of forgery of passport or travel certificate, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury and false declaration for office.
“As a matter of urgency, I [Dormaahene] am appealing to the President of the Republic [Akufo-Addo], if he has any role to play, that trial should be aborted, and the Attorney-General should as a matter of urgency file a nolle prosequi to end that particular decision and abort the criminal case against Mr Quayson,” Agyemang Badu II, who is also the president of the Bono House of Chiefs said.
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Speaking on the development, the attorney general said such comments have the potential to affect the fair adjudication of the case.
“I will come out with a proper statement on the matter and it will be in respect of all comments generally, which have the tendency to subvert the administration of justice,” Dame told Asaase 99.5 Accra’s legal and political affairs editor, Wilberforce Asare.
“I think that it is very unhealthy for our democratic dispensation and we must not countenance same.”
Meanwhile, renowned Ghanaian lawyer, Sam Okudzeto, has taken a swipe at the Dormaahene for meddling in politics contrary to the spirit of the 1992 Constitution.
Appearing on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Monday (3 July), Okudzeto said the Dormaahene goofed with his statement, adding that the judicial council must sanction him.
“I must confess that I am saddened and shocked because the one involved is not just an ordinary chief but a paramount chief. That is a very high position to be held in high esteem,” Okudzeto told the show host Benjamin Offei-Addo.
“He should not meddle in politics,” he said, adding that, “in fact the constitution is very clear on that and the basis for that is that everybody in his jurisdiction owes allegiance to him and therefore that is why he shouldn’t involve in partisan politics…”
“And so I am shocked, because I have heard him done something like that and many lawyers were angry and thought he should be removed from the bench…, if the Supreme Court sat and analyse, what is his business… the judicial council must sanction him,” Okudzeto said.
