Legislature vs Judiciary: Big day in Parliament

• Posted on October 22, 2024October 22, 2024
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has a big decision to make on Tuesday, October 22,2024. Whether to stand by his October 17 decision which declared 4 seats vacant or abide by a Supreme Court decision which asked that his directive be put on hold.

For many, the current dispute can well be traced to the composition of Ghana’s Parliament following the 2020 general election. For the first time in history, the Governing New Patriotic Party and the Opposition National Democratic Congress secured the same number of seats; 137.

The NPP had to fall on an independent Member of Parliament they had dismissed from the party to constitute the majority. The Election of Alban Bagbin as speaker was in itself chaotic as the counting process was interfered with.

The nation has since been treated with a Parliament where both sides have struggled to reach a compromise. They have also had to marshal their numbers when it mattered the most to attempt to have their way. A case in point is government’s push to pass the controversial electronic transactions levy.

The current controversy centres around 4 parliamentary seats; Amenfi Central, Suhum, Fomena and Agona West. The current Members of Parliament for these seats have filed their nominations to contest the 2024 polls as Independent Candidates. Ghana’s constitution in Article 97(1)(g) provides as follows;

“(1) A member of Parliament shall vacate his seat in Parliament—

“If he leaves the party of which he was a member at the time of his election to Parliament to join another party or seeks to remain in Parliament as an independent member;”

In 2020, Speaker of Parliament Prof Aaron Mike Ocquaye relied on this provision to declare the Fomena seat vacant after the Member of Parliament Andrew Asiamah declared his intention to contest the general election as an independent candidate.

Speaker Bagbin has in a similar manner ruled that by virtue of the decision by these Members of Parliament to contest the 2024 polls as independent candidates, they can be deemed to have vacated their seats.

His decision itself was not without controversy. Both sides of the house argued strenuously for and against such a declaration with the NPP side maintaining that its leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin had filed a case at the Supreme Court hence the need for the Speaker not to rule on the matter. The Speaker asked for two days to consider the arguments and returned on October 17 to announce the vacancies.

The majority side then filed processes seeking the immediate intervention of the Supreme Court on October 18. A five-member panel of the Supreme Court presided over by the Chief Justice Gertrude Torkonoo ruled that the Speaker was wrong to have dealt with the matter despite the pending court processes. It thus ruled that the Speaker’s decision should be put on hold until the Apex Court deals with the matter.

The NDC caucus has since served notice it will only listen to the Speaker of Parliament and jealousy guard what it says is its newly acquired majority status. Only time will tell, what decision the Speaker will take.