Lawyer Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe has alleged that a top government official from the Office of the President told the Member of Parliament for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson, to resign so the criminal case against him would be dropped.
Edudzi Tamakloe, a member of the legal team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), said that the MP was tormented by the government to the extent that he almost gave up on fighting to be an MP.
“They told him to resign for his prosecution to stop. That is why for some of us this criminal prosecution has not the ends of justice. It is purely politics; politics, politics, politics,” he said in a TV3 interview on July 4, 2023, monitored by GhanaWeb.
He added that the person who approached Gyakye Quayson was “very high up at the Office of the President”.
“I want to thank the almighty God for the grace to keep standing. The things Gyakye Quayson had gone through any ordinary person, possibly would be dead by now.
“The emotional blackmail, the torture, the mental agony that he has gone through. At a point, he was denied even MP’s common fund allocation, What was his crime?” he quizzed.
The MP, who was sworn in on Tuesday, is being prosecuted by the Office of the Attorney General for deceiving public officers to acquire state documents.
On February 12, 2022, the State charged James Gyakye Quayson with five counts; deceit of a public officer, forgery of a passport, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury, and false declaration.
