The African Center for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA) has raised concerns over the ongoing stalemate in Parliament, following the Supreme Court’s decision to halt Speaker Alban Bagbin’s ruling, which declared the seats of four Members of Parliament vacant.
ACEPA’s Executive Director, Rasheed Draman, speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show with Bernard Avle on Monday, October 21, warned that if the situation continues unchecked, it could ultimately disrupt legislative proceedings.
Mr. Draman suggested that the current challenges stem from certain MPs encouraging private citizens to take legal action against Parliamentary decisions.
He further warned that if these issues persist, Parliament could face paralysis due to the increasing number of disputes.
“But in this matter, which has many lines, MPs sometimes instigate stakeholders out of Parliament to run to the court and I have been telling them that what you are doing is weakening your own institutions because wherever you find yourself today, it is not a permanent station because minorities do change.
“We ought to be very careful how many times and how quickly we ran to the court for interpretation in attempts to hold the executive to account just because it does not please somebody. They are setting very bad precedents and if we are not careful, we will wake up one day and our Parliament will be paralysed.”
He therefore suggested that, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo collaborate with the legislature and judiciary to have such issues resolved amicably.
“My view is that we need a three-way conversation between the president, the Speaker of Parliament, and the Chief Justice and anybody who thinks that this matter is going to resolve itself or things will play out in the end, they have to think again because we have seen instances in this 8th Parliament where both side dug in so much so that things were about to breakdown but those matters were not as serious as we have right now.”
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