The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has asked his lawyers to file for a stay of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the four seats he had previously declared vacant.
If the Speaker’s lawyers are successful, Bagbin’s earlier decision to declare the four seats vacant on October 17, 2024, will remain in effect until the case is resolved.
This comes after the Supreme Court overturned Bagbin’s ruling, which declared four seats vacant in Parliament on October 18, 2024.
The Supreme Court’s decision means that the four MPs will remain in parliament until a final verdict is reached in the legal proceedings.
It follows a petition by Majority Leader and MP for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, who sought the court’s intervention to stop the enforcement of the Speaker’s ruling.
The affected MPs are Peter Kwakyi Ackah of Amenfi Central, Cynthia Morrison of Agona West, Kwadjo Asante of Suhum, and Andrew Asiamah of Fomena.
While Peter Kwakyi Ackah, Cynthia Morrison, and Kwadjo Asante are contesting as independent candidates, Andrew Asiamah, who was in the House as an independent MP, is contesting the seat on the ticket of the NPP.
Tamale South MP, Haruna Iddrisu, initiated the whole issue when he petitioned the Speaker of Parliament to declare vacant the seats of three Majority MPs and one Minority MP due to their decision to switch political allegiances.
This, he said, was in accordance with Article 97(1)(g) of the Constitution, which states that an MP shall vacate their seat if they leave the party they were elected under or seek to remain in Parliament as an independent candidate.
The Speaker’s decision means that Parliament, which previously favoured the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) as the Majority with the support of Independent Member of Parliament Andrew Amoako Asiamah, will now shift towards benefiting the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC). The ruling implies that the NDC has 136 seats while the NPP now has 135 seats.
Story By Grace Tsotsoo Quaye
