Leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Caucus, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson on Tuesday lauded the decision of Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin to adjourn the House sine die.
Speaking to the Parliamentary Press Corps moments after the adjournment of the House, Dr Forson said: “We want to make something very clear, the NDC members of parliament are in the Majority in Ghana’s parliament. We’ve made our position, and it’s so clear.”
“We are not changing our positions. We see ourselves as the Majority. We are fortified by the Constitution and the Standing Orders of this House, and we see ourselves as the Majority.”
Dr Forson said the NDC Caucus were grateful to the Speaker for the right directive he had given and that they respected his decision.
“We hope that the time will come that this House will be recalled, and we take our position as the Majority Caucus,” Dr Forson said.
The Speaker’s decision to adjourn the House indefinitely follows a ruling from the Supreme Court, under an ex parte application, directing Parliament to recognise and allow the four Members of Parliament, whose seats the Speaker had declared vacant, to duly represent their constituents and conduct full scope of duties of their offices as Members of Parliament, pending the final determination of a suit filed by Mr Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Caucus Leader.
The four Parliamentary seats declared vacant by the Speaker on Thursday, October 17, are Amenfi Central, Fomena, Agona West and Suhum Constituencies, for breaches of Article 9(1)(g) and (h) of the 1992 Constitution by the Members of Parliament (MPs).
Article 97(1) states: “A member of Parliament shall vacate his seat in Parliament — (g) 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; or (h) if he was elected a member of Parliament as an independent candidate and joins a political party.”
The Speaker’s ruling on Thursday, October 17, was a formal response to the House to a matter of significant parliamentary and constitutional importance, which was brought to the attention of the House on Tuesday, October 15, by Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, the Minority Leader and NDC MP for Ajumako/Enyan/Essiam, according to Order 93 of the Standing Orders of Parliament.
This development has left the NPP Caucus with 135 MPs and the NDC Caucus with 136 MPs.
However, the Supreme Court on Friday, October 18, set aside the Speaker’s ruling and directed him to allow the four affected MPs to participate in the business of the House.
On Tuesday, October 22, Speaker Bagbin made the adjournment of House in formal communication to the House, during which the NDC Caucus occupied the Majority side of the Chamber, while the NPP Caucus retreated to their offices in the Job Six Hundred Building Block of Parliament House.
Before adjourning the House, the Speaker said, although the House on Tuesday had the numbers to conduct business, they were definitely far above one-third of the Members of Parliament, but the numbers were not sufficient for them to make decisions.
The Speaker noted that he had consulted leadership, and that he was exercising his discretion to decide to suspend the meeting of the House indefinitely.