‘Canada MP’ in hot water as Attorney General strikes with perjury charge

• Posted on February 7, 2022February 7, 2022
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

THE WOES of embattled National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament (MP), James Gyekye Quayson, has worsened after the Office of the Attorney General charged him with deceit, forgery and other criminal offences for misleading public officers.

The offences relate to the MP’s activities in the run up to the 2020 parliamentary election which he won.

A Cape Coast High Court last year found that the MP is holding both Ghanaian and Canadian citizenship, which is against the laws of Ghana.

The MP has been charged, among others, for deceiving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by making a false statement that he did not have a dual citizenship in order to acquire a Ghanaian passport.

Mr. Quayson has also been charged with perjury for making a false statement at Assin Fosu, that he does not owe allegiance to any country other than Ghana, a statement he did not have a reason to believe to be true at the time of making it.

Again, the MP has been charged for making a false declaration for office when he knowingly said he does not owe allegiance to any country other than Ghana for the purpose of obtaining a public office as a Member of Parliament, a statement he knew to be material for obtaining that office.

The criminal  charges against Mr. Quayson comes just few days after a writ had been filed at the Supreme Court seeking to place an injunction on the MP to restrain him from carrying himself out as such.

A Cape Coast High has already ordered the MP to vacate his seat in Parliament and called for a fresh election to be held in the area after it found that the MP at the time of filing his nomination to contest in the parliamentary election which he won in December 7, 2020, held dual citizenship which is against the laws of Ghana.

Specific Charges 

The MP has now been charged with criminal offences he is alleged to have committed between July 2019 and October 2020 in the lead up to his participation in the Assin North parliamentary seat contest.

He has been charged with five counts which included one count of deceit of public officer, contrary to section 251(b) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) for deceiving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to obtain a Ghanaian passport.

He  has also been charged with one count of forgery of passport or travel certificate, contrary to section 15(1)(b) of the Passports and Travel Certificates Act, 1967 (NLCD 155) for making a false statement that he did not have a dual citizenship for the purpose of procuring a passport.

Mr. Quayson is also facing another charge of knowingly making a false statutory declaration, contrary to section 5 of the Statutory Declarations Act, 1971 (ACT 389).

Again, the embattled MP is facing another charge of perjury, contrary to section 210(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) for making a false statement on oath that he did not owe allegiance to any country other than Ghana, a statement he did not have a reason to believe to be true at the time of making it.

Mr. Quayson is also facing a charge of false declaration for office, contrary to section 248 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), in respect of an alleged false declaration he made at the Electoral Commission Office, that he did not owe allegiance to any country other than Ghana for the purpose of obtaining a public office as a Member of Parliament.

Court Appearance

The MP was expected to appear before an Accra High Court yesterday but efforts by the police to serve him with the charge sheet proved futile.

The court was informed that counsel for the accused was called on phone about the charges and the MP himself was sent a text message about the charge sheet but the police were unable to locate him and serve him.

The court presided over by Justice Mary Maame Ekue Nsenkyire therefore, ordered that the charge sheet be served on the MP and subsequently adjourned the case to February 9, 2022.

Brief Facts

The brief facts of the case indicate that the MP on July 26, 2019, signed an application form for a Republic of Ghana passport and indicated in the said form that he is a Ghanaian and does not have dual citizenship.

According to the fact, the MP at the time of applying for the Ghanaian passport held a Canadian citizenship issued on October 30, 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,” the facts stated.

According to prosecution, the MP at the time of picking up nomination forms to contest as Assin North MP was a Ghanaian and a Canadian citizen, making him a dual citizenship holder thereby disqualifying him under Article 94(2)(a) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana to be 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,” the facts stated.

The prosecution further stated that, “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.”

It added that On January 14, 2021, the Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department received a petition dated January 11, 2021 from the complainant in which the complainant reported these actions of the accused, leading to investigations against him.

“In his caution 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,” the facts added.

BY Gibril Abdul Razak