Kwabena Amikaketo sat in his favourite chair on his balcony, viewing the setting sun in the sky that was making way for the shadows to grow longer and soon cover his part of the world, like some dark blanket. The evening was a bit warm but it was refreshing up on his balcony.
Kwabena was as usual in deep contemplation over matters affecting the state. Tonight, it is all about the 1992 Constitution, the MPs and the political parties in this his God blessed homeland, called Ghana.
To Kwabena, his absolute belief, which he held since 1992, that the Constitution was not well written, keeps manifesting with strong proofs as articles that were written in clear and plain English get interpretated so differently.
Today Ghana is boiling when Art. 97 (1g & h) came out to announce to all who do not know that there is a law like that. It is about the tenure of office of MPs and it clearly reads: 97 (1) 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.It came to pass, that for Elections 2024, four sitting MPs have decided to contest for re-elections on tickets other than the ones that brought them to Parliament.
Two NPP MPs, Cynthia Morrison of Agona and Kwadwo Asante of Suhum felt cruelly treated by their party during the Parliamentary primaries which made them lose the opportunity to seek re-election, so, they decided to go on independent tickets. The same thing happened to NDC’s Peter Yaw Kwakye-Ackah of Amenfi Central.
The fourth MP is the 2nd Deputy Speaker, Andrew Asiamah Amoako of Fomena, who is in Parliament on independent ticket and decided to run on NPP ticket in 2024. Andrew’s case is very unique. He was the sitting NPP MP of Fomena in the Seventh Parliament which ended in 2017. For some reason, he was also cheated out of the 2020 primaries and he opted to go independent.
Then the NPP proceeded to use Art. 9 (1) of the its constitution to instruct the then Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Mike Ocquaye, to throw him out of the House. By the party’s rules, anyone who contests against the party’s candidate or supports another candidate, ceases to be member of the Party. He was removed from Parliament with just less than two months to elections.But the Triune God smiled on him and he was re-elected.
The Eighth Parliament was evenly split into two with NPP taking 137 seats and the NDC also taking 137 seats. In the middle was, Andrew Asiamah, who could decide which party would form the Majority Caucus. Faced with the glooming possibility that a government in power could be in the minority in Parliament, the NPP gurus went to see Andrew, and down on their knees like, a prodigal father, they begged Asiamah to come back home. He did and joined the NPP side to form the majority caucus.
In the recent primaries, the NPP declared Independent MP, Hon Andrew Asiamah Amoako, unopposed, ceding the Fomena seat to him and his generation to come. So, he is to run on NPP ticket during the 2024 elections.
But it looks like Andrew’s village people are always on his case. In the Seventh Parliament, they made sure he was not allowed to complete his term and again, it seems in this Eighth Parliament they want to repeat their sinister agenda.
Kwabena sighed, then smiled. An NDC MP seeing that with four MPs changing tickets,if Art. 97 (1g & h) was invoked, the four would be thrown out, then by the simple arithmetic theory of if-more-less-divide,thrown, the NDC will form Majority. So, he raised his voice and drew the Speaker’s attention that something was just not right in the House; the Constitution was being violated.
Lo and behold, the God-fearing Speaker did what to him the law said in Art. 97 and called kayayei to carry the four MPs including their belongings out of the House to the nearest station where the MPs can board vehicles back to their villages.
Kwabena looked up to the Heavens and greeted God, “Good evening,” and lowering his head he went on lamenting on matters that arose out of this.
The NPP hurried to the Supreme Court for interpretation of Art. 97 (1g & h) where the wisest and aged in the land gathered and came out to say, nothing in Art. 97 shows that those MPs should be thrown out of the House for what they did. Whow? (combining why and how).
The law is saying that if any MP does any of such things in Art. 97 (1 g & h), they must vacate their seats, so what is so ambiguous in this? However, our aged elders who sat on benches could see further than we who climb on top of trees can, said something like once an MP is elected, he or she represents a constituency made up of everybody, and not only his party. All in the constituency needed a voice in Parliament and so he must be there until he completes his term.
Moreover, the conditions in the Constitution for which he vacates the House, are leaving his party to join another. None of the four MPs have officially declared that they have resigned from their parties. So, what’s all this jazz about, the aged wise folks angrily asked us, for disturbing their sleep over nothing.
Kwabena was amazed at the thinking of the aged. This was not how it was written in the law. Or, wait does that preamble, ‘A member of Parliament shall vacate his seat in Parliament,’emphasis on “shall” not refer to the future?Kwabena wondered, for in simple English, the word “shall” denotes something to occur in the future, while the word “must,” denoted something to occur immediately and in the future.
If so, then either the MP who is going to contest on another ticketvacates his seat at a future date or the Speaker must give him a date in the future to vacate his seat.
Kwabena, had a problem with NPP Art. 9 (1). It was drafted only to punish any member who deserts the party but nothing is done to those who might have caused him to desert. There were glorified lords and ladies of the NPP who were the untouchables. Coming from the presidency, national and regional offices, they will go from constituency to constituency to impose parliamentary candidates on them.
Sitting MPs who are not in their good books were not spared.These lords and ladies would come with a message that this fellow is not the choice of the top. This creates divisions in the constituencies and in some cases the aggrieved member will leave to run independent. With the party split, the seat is lost to the NPP.This was the main reason why NPP lost thirty-two seats in 2020.
The culprits would threaten to use Art. 9 (1) to expel the member who went independent from the party. However,when that independent candidate wins, the Party will quickly patch up the differences and recall him, because it wants the numbers in Parliament.
Alhaji Saani Iddi (Wulensi), Ofori-Kuragu (BosomeFreho), Joseph Osei-Owusu (Bekwai) and Seth Adjei Baah (Nkawkaw) were not expelled from the Party in 2008, because they won their seats. But why should Andrew Asiamah Amoako be expelled in 2020? It was due to vain pride, arrogance and complacency.
He was not in the good books of the gurus. From his constituency chairman to the regional chairman, he was ruled out at the national office and finally at the presidency that he was not fit to be MP anymore. Unfortunately, the results of imposing candidates hit the party hard with shock as thirty-two seats were lost.
The bitter lesson of this great loss, seems not to have been learnt, as Cynthia Morrison and Kwadwo Asante were giving the same irresponsible treatment.
On the other side of the House, the NDC’s MP for Amenfi Central, Peter Yaw Kwakye-Ackah was also badly treated and he too, has decided to go independent.
Kwabena sighed again when another thought crossed his mind. If it was only an MP who decided to contest independent, will the NDC MPs draw the Speaker’s NDC to Art. 97 (1 g & h)? Here is the same party who cried for the people of Guan and went to court in attention to make them have a voice in Parliament, but today are denying four constituencies their voices in the Houses.
Also, if the NPP had not removed Asiamah from the House in 2020, would the NDC have asked Art. 97 (1g & h) to be used to remove the four? For between 2000 to 2008, six sitting MPs who changed tickets contested the next elections without anyone standing against that.
Kwabena Amikaketo, read Art. 97 (1g & h) over and over again and said to, himself the real problem here was the drafters of the Constitution. With most of the members of the Consultative Assembly not having commandof the English language and no knowledge of basic law, this is the outcome. In the end what we see clearly written in English will be interpretated differently, because in this case, ‘shall,’ actually carries an opposite in meaning.
Then why did I go to school for, Kwabena said as he rose from his chair, hearing the voice of his sweet daughter, Echelle, who called out and came to lead him indoors to bed.
Hon. Daniel Dugan
