Minority Leader, Cassiel Ato Forson
The Minority in Parliament has stated that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Caucus of the House no longer has the basis to hold itself as the Majority Caucus.
Addressing the floor on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, the Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, outlined that three members of the House from the NPP side, as well as an MP from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) caucus, have rendered their seats vacant by deciding to file as independent candidates for the upcoming general election.
Citing Article 97(g) of the 1992 Constitution and a precedent set by a ruling issued by the then-Speaker of Parliament in October 2020, the Minority Leader underscored that the NPP caucus, by the numerical arrangement of membership, can no longer be ascribed the Majority Caucus.
“Mr. Speaker, this ruling was not contested and has still not been contested and remains good and valid as a rule of this House. Right Honourable Speaker, we therefore call on you to enforce the existing ruling based on Article 97(g) and (h). That decision, Mr. Speaker, applies to all four Members of Parliament, namely Hon. Peter Kwakye Akwah, Hon. Andrew Amoako Asiamah, Hon. Cynthia Mamle Morrison, and Hon. Kwajo Asante,” he said.
“This means that these persons are deemed to have vacated their seats accordingly. Right Honourable Speaker, this means that currently, we do not have an independent member of Parliament. The NPP has only 135 members of Parliament, having seen two of their members contest as independent candidates, and the NDC has 136 members, having lost one member. Therefore, the NPP group cannot continue to hold themselves as the majority group of this House,” he added.
Amidst the ongoing controversy over the attempts to declare the seats vacant, some critics have cited a 2020 ruling by the then-Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, who declared the Fomena seat vacant.
His ruling was based on a letter written to Parliament by the NPP on October 13, 2020, to trigger Article 97.
The letter and subsequent announcement came after Andrew Amoako Asiamah decided to file and contest the 2020 parliamentary election as an independent candidate, citing machinations against him in the party’s primaries.
Amoako Asiamah, who had lost the party’s primaries held in June 2020, subsequently contested and won the 2020 elections as an independent candidate.
The move by Haruna Iddrisu comes after the MPs for Agona West and Suhum, who are members of the NPP, filed their nominations to contest the 2024 parliamentary election as independent candidates.
The independent MP for Fomena has also filed his nomination to contest the election on the ticket of the NPP, and the Amenfi Central MP, a member of the NDC, has also filed his nomination to contest as an independent candidate.
Article 97 [1(g) & (h)] of the 1992 Constitution states that “a member of Parliament shall vacate his seat in Parliament 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 if he was elected a member of Parliament as an independent candidate and joins a political party.”
