A private legal practitioner, Christian Lebrecht Malm-Hesse says the calls on the Attorney-General to discontinue with the criminal case against James Gyakye Quayson, the Member of Parliament-elect of Assin North may be needful but could create a precedent that will be undesiring in the corridors of justice.
He explained that it will create a situation whereby one will opt for nolle prosequi when it favors him or her and if it does not, then it wouldn’t be considered.
“It will now be, if it favors you, let’s go for nolle prosequi and if it doesn’t, let’s not. That will create a certain precedent which only can be placed in the ball of politics but when it comes to equity and justice or equity and law, that will elude precedence which ought to guide the principle of rule of law” he told Johnnie Hughes on 3FM Sunrise Morning Show.
Malm-Hesse added that the conservatives will prefer the trial to proceed in order to serve as a buffer of precedence to future generations who will want to rely and call on this case for it to guide future endeavors, however, the call for nolle prosequi is not faulty since it is based on national unity.
According to him, in the instance of justice, one would say that where such calls are coming from reputable individuals in society and there is a penchant for listening to them.
“This is a tricky matter. It is a ball that lies between the law, justice, equity and political parlance” he concluded.
Meanwhile, a former Deputy Attorney General, Joseph Kpemka has cautioned that the application of nolle prosequi shouldn’t be selective.
“Such a decision is not just taken like that. It requires a broader consultation” he said on 3FM Sunrise.
He argued that both Adamu Sakande, who was jailed for perjury and forgery after he was elected as MP for Bawku Central and James Gyakye Quayson who is currently facing charges of forgery and perjury were both owing allegiance to another country at the time they filed their nomination forms to contest their respective Parliamentary elections.
By Samuel Afriyie Owusu|3news.com|Ghana