The Dean of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) Law School, Professor Kofi Abotsi, says anyone can report a Member of Parliament who crosses the carpet or chooses to run as an independent candidate.
According to him, it is not exclusively vested in the political party to report such an anomaly.
Speaking in an interview on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Thursday, October 17, he argued that the MP is mainly an agent of the constitution and secondarily an agent of the political party, adding that the parties are only a vehicle to enter Parliament.
He explained that “in elementary principles, the Constitution says whoever is in violation of the Constitution is void. Meaning if anybody acts in a manner considered unconstitutional regardless of the activation of a process by a party, citizen or anyone, the action is intrinsically void.
“So therefore, if a person crosses carpet and by reason of that, the person is supposed to lose his membership of Parliament. If that person continues to sit in Parliament, whether or not a party reports, the person would have been sitting unconstitutionally which means the person would have been sitting in Parliament unqualified. That therefore undermines the argument that the party should be the one ordinarily to report because the person would have fundamentally violated the constitutional requirement.”
“That is why in my opinion, everybody, technically has the right to report this. In fact, MPs can do that, the parties can, non-members of Parliament, ordinary Ghanaians can petition the Speaker of Parliament to ensure that such an anomaly is rectified if ever a thing like this happens,” he explained further.
His position on the law contradicts that of the former Speaker of Parliament Prof Mike Oquaye.
Prof Aaron Mike Oquaye expressed concerns about the 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.
But according to Prof Abotsi, the structure or framing of the provision itself in the Constitution – Article 97 doesn’t even mention reporting so to speak.
“The Constitution says that the person shall primarily take the step himself. The person becomes disqualified if he crosses carpet.
“So ordinarily, the reporting part is a secondary thing. If the person doesn’t take steps to report himself, then, we have a secondary step.”
Prof Abotsi said although he understands the former Speaker’s argument, “we should also not forget the fact that political party may have an incentive not to report a thing like this.”
The current Speaker of Parliament is expected to rule on the petition filed by the minority NDC.
The MPs in question are Peter Kwakyi Ackah of Amenfi Central, Cynthia Morrison of Agona West, Kwadjo Asante of Suhum, and Andrew Asiamah.
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