The Director of Legal Affairs for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and lawyer in private practice, Gary Nimako Marfo has called on the Majority and Minority Caucuses in Parliament to allow cool heads to prevail while calling on the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin to uphold the orders of the Supreme Court that stayed his Thursday, 17 October 2024 ruling which declared four seats in Parliament vacant.
Gary Nimako Marfo made the call in his submission on Joy FM’s Newfile on Saturday, 26 October 2024. Addressing the specific issue of the recall of Parliament following an indefinite suspension of the House by Speaker Alban Bagbin, Mr Nimako Marfo indicated that the House can reconvene immediately but much depends on the Speaker’s willingness to fully accept the directives of the Supreme Court delivered on Friday, 18 October 2024.
“[Recalling the House] will work if the Speaker of Parliament is willing and ready to accept that in this country, there is something called the rule of law and there is something called constitutional supremacy and not parliamentary supremacy and that there is only one body that gives orders which is the Supreme Court. When the Supreme Court gives orders, failure to obey the same will amounts to high crime. The Speaker must therefore show that he is ready to respect and obey the orders of the Supreme Court.
“When you call Parliament, there is a gray line here, where would the Majority sit and where would the Minority sit? At my last check, NDC is saying they are the Majority. I think the Speaker should be bold and tell them that I am the Speaker of Parliament, this is my Chamber, this is my House, I have to regulate all of you and what you are doing,” Gary Nimako Marfo said.
“The courts of Ghana and the Supreme Court for that matter have stayed my ruling and so I am ordering that Majority, be at where you are or where you were, Minority, be at where you were so we can conduct business until the court determines the matter. For all you know, the court may be able to deal with this matter quickly and this matter will come to an end. I think the issue for me is both legal and political and the tempers must come down,” Mr Nimako Marfo added.
Background
On Thursday, 17 October 2024, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin in a ruling following an application by the Minority Leader, Cassiel Ato Forson, declared four parliamentary seats vacant. The legislators and seats affected by the Speaker’s ruling were; Peter Yaw Kwakye-Ackah, MP for Amenfi Central in the Western Region, Andrew Asiamah Amoako, MP for Fomena, Ashanti Region (Independent), Kwadjo Asante, MP for Suhum, Eastern Region (NPP) and Cynthia Morrison, MP for Agona West, Central Region.
The Speaker’s ruling effectively reduced the numerical strength of the Majority Caucus to 135 members and the Minority numbers to 136 which by implication, would turn the Majority into Minority and the Minority to Majority. However, lawyers of the Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin proceeded to the Supreme Court on Friday, 18 October 2024 with an ex-parte application praying the apex court of the land to stay the enforcement of the ruling of the Speaker.
A five-member Supreme Court panel presided over by the Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, granted the ex-parte motion and ordered the parties to file their statements of the case within seven days to allow the court to deal expeditiously with the substantive application before them seeking interpretation of Article 97 (1) (g) and (h) of the 1992 constitution which formed the basis upon which the Speaker made his vacant seats pronouncement.
However, when Parliament resumed on Tuesday, 22 October 2024, the NDC caucus (Minority) arrived in Parliament early and took the side of the floor for the Majority Caucus inspite of the stay orders of the Supreme Court. The NPP caucus (Majority) to avert any form of confrontation decided to stay award from the House in anticipation that the Speaker would come and acknowledge the decision of the Supreme Court and return the House to its previous state before the Speaker’s ruling of 17 October 2024.
The Speaker after taking his seat in the House decided to adjourn the sitting sine-die (indefinitely) because even though per Article 102 of the 1992 constitution, there was a quorum for Parliament to do business, per Article 104, the House did not have the required numbers to take a decision.
Recall request
Following the decision of the Speaker, the Majority Caucus has in a memo to the Speaker, signed by the Second Deputy Majority Chief Whip and dated 22 October 2024, requested the Speaker to reconvene the House on the strength of Article 112 (3) of the 1992 constitution and order 53 of the standing orders of Parliament. The memo indicated that there are urgent government business and other matters for consideration.
“We respectfully request that, upon recall of the House, the following urgent Government Business be deliberated upon and transacted including any other business that comes before the House: Request for Tax Exemptions for designated beneficiaries under the One District, One Factory Programme, Ghana Financial Stability Fund, an International Development Association facility of Two Hundred and Fifty Million United States Dollars ($250,000,000),” the memo of the Majority Caucus read.
The following Bills are also to be considered by the House upon its resumption to continue its third meeting of the current session of the 8th Parliament. They are; “the Environmental Protection Agency Bill, 2024, Social Protection Bill, 2023, Customs (Amendment) Bill, 2024, Budget Bill 2023, Ghana Boundary Commission Bill, 2023, and the Intestate Succession Bill, 2022.”
