Former Speaker of Parliament, Prof Aaron Mike Oquaye, has expressed concerns over a petition submitted by former Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, seeking to have four parliamentary seats declared vacant because their occupants opted to run as independent candidates in the upcoming general elections.
According to Prof Oquaye, such a move would be illegal without a formal complaint from the affected political parties and a fair hearing for the MPs involved.
On Tuesday, October 15, Parliament debated the petition filed by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, which called for the seats of three New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs and one National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP to be declared vacant.
During the debate, several MPs cited Prof Oquaye’s previous ruling regarding the Fomena MP, Andrews Asiamah, and urged the current Speaker, Alban Bagbin, to apply the same principle.
However, in an interview with JoyNews‘ Elton John Brobbey, Prof Oquaye insisted that the two cases were not comparable and urged Speaker Bagbin to take a critical and nuanced approach, describing the petition as needless.
