Gyakye Quayson turns heat on KT Hammond, wants minister imprisoned

James Gyakye Quayson, the Member of Parliament for Assin North has dragged his colleague MP, Kobina Tahir Hammond, KT Hammond to court. The former is citing the Adansi Asokwa MP for contempt of court following an interview granted by the latter to Oyerepa FM.

According to Gyakye Quayson’s legal representatives, the comments by the Trade and Industry Minister in the interview are “in contempt” of court. Justin Pwavra Teriwajah, counsel for the Assin North MP told the court “The said words of the Respondent are also in contempt of this Honourable Court as they are extremely prejudicial to the lawful process of this Honourable Court”.

K.T Hammond during an interview on the Oyerepa Breakfast Show said just like former Bawku Central MP Adamu Sakande was convicted, so will Gyakye Quayson. He explained that there is a similarity between both cases and thus My Quayson cannot avoid conviction.

“There is a legal concept called precedence in court… This is exactly what happened with Adamu Sakande. He was expelled from parliament by the same NDC (National Democratic Congress) members who took him to court. He was subsequently imprisoned and eventually passed away. It is the same situation,” he told Oyerepa FM.

According to the Adansi Asokwa MP, he “urged the former deputy Attorney General, Dominic Ayine, to advise the gentleman [Quayson] that we have witnessed this scenario in parliament before. He should leave parliament before he faces imprisonment.”

The above is what prompted the Assin North MP and his legal team to haul the Trade and Industry Minister before the courts to seek justice. Gyakye Quayson wants the MP to be tried for contempt and be jailed if found guilty.

Mr Quayson is standing trial for perjury after he was accused of lying to the election officials in order to file for elections during the 2020 general elections. He had lost his parliamentary seat as a result but won it back in a by-election organized at the tail end of June 2023. There have been several calls for the case to be dropped but the Attorney General is yet to take action in that regard as the government seemed bent on prosecuting the NDC MP.