A former Attorney General cum Minister of Justice, Nii Ayikoi Otoo, has opined that a discontinuity of the criminal case against the Assin North Member of Parliament-elect will inure to the benefit of the New Patriotic Party in future.
In his view, the party needs numbers to win elections in the area; every step expedient to achieving that goal must therefore be taken into consideration, of which gauging the mood of the constituents is one.
Following the back and forth that characterised the election of the Assin North Member of Parliament leading to the declaration of his seat as vacant for a by-election to be held, Mr James Gyakye Quayson reclaimed his status as the legislator for the area.
In the by-election held in late June, Mr Quayson won with 17,245 votes representing 57.56 per cent of the valid votes cast. The New Patriotic Party’s Charles Opoku came second with 12,630 votes representing 42.15 per cent. Sefenu Bernice Enyonam, the candidate for the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), garnered 87 votes representing 0.29 per cent.
On the back of the outcome of the election, the NPP official wondered in an interview monitored by Angelonline.com.gh on Citi FM on Monday, July 3 how the constituents would react should the Attorney General prevail in the criminal trial.
“If we want to win election in Assin North next time and we go on with this trial and we convict him, in the likely event that we convict him, and then he gets out again, we are going to go through another by-election, this time not with him. Now, what will the people of Assin North be thinking of the NPP? Will they be ever comfortable with voting us into power, or would they decide that they will never forgive us anymore?
“This is what we should be looking at because we need the numbers…So it will be a good thing to enter a nolle prosequi and stop all these to show some more maturity,” Nii Ayikoi Otoo, Ghana’s former High Commissioner to Canada, added.
Nii Ayikoi Otoo’s comments came in the wake of the Dormaahene’s call on President Akufo-Addo and his Minister of Justice to file a nolle prosequi in the criminal case against James Gyakye Quayson.
