Private legal practitioner Justice Abdulai has expressed surprise at the speed of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin’s declaration of four parliamentary seats as vacant.
According to him, the swift decision by the Court to stay the execution issued barely 24 hours after the Speaker’s announcement, was both unexpected and impressive.
Speaking to JoyNews on Friday, October 18, Justice Abdulai remarked, “It is the most amazing thing I have heard. I didn’t know our courts could work this faster and it is impressive to hear this thing.”
His comments follow the Supreme Court’s stay of execution on Speaker Alban Bagbin’s ruling, which had declared four parliamentary seats vacant.
The Court’s decision mandates Parliament to recognise and allow the four MPs, whose seats were affected, to continue representing their constituencies and perform their duties until the Court issues a final verdict on the matter.
This interim directive will remain in force not for the initially requested 10 days, but until the final judgment is delivered.
The application to stay the Speaker’s decision was filed by New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament, who sought the Court’s intervention to halt the enforcement of the ruling that would have affected three of their colleagues and one from the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The application was filed ex parte, meaning that neither Speaker Bagbin nor Parliament was joined to the case.
This allowed the Court to consider the NPP MPs’ request without requiring the participation or response of the Speaker or other parliamentary authorities at this stage.
In light of this, Justice Abdulai noted that, given the nature of the injunction, it is possible that this status quo could remain in place for the remainder of the current Parliament, adding, “The final decision might never come.”
He noted that the ruling means the NPP caucus retains its status as the Majority in Parliament, with the NDC caucus remaining the Minority.
The Speaker of Parliament, on Thursday, October 17, declared four parliamentary seats vacant, with barely two months to the December elections, following a heated debate in the House sparked by a petition filed by former NDC Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu.
The legislators affected by the ruling are the NDC’s Peter Yaw Kwakye Ackah of the Amenfi Central constituency in the Western Region, Andrew Amoako Asiamah of Fomena in the Ashanti Region, Kojo Asante, NPP MP for Suhum in the Eastern Region, and NPP’s Cynthia Morrison of the Agona West constituency.
The ruling meant that Ghana’s hung parliament, which had previously given the governing NPP a slight upper hand as the Majority side, with support from Independent Member of Parliament Andrew Amoako Asiamah, shifted the balance in favour of the opposition NDC.
According to the Speaker’s ruling on Thursday, the NDC now had 136 MPs in the House, while the NPP had 135. Prior to this, the NPP held 138 seats, compared to the NDC’s 137.
However, the Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday, October 18, means that the NPP caucus, which lost its majority status following the Speaker’s declaration, will retain its majority position, while the NDC caucus will continue as the minority in the House.
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