Constitutional and human rights lawyer Martin Kpebu has urged the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, to challenge the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning his declaration of four seats in the legislative House as vacant.
According to the private legal practitioner, a pushback by the Speaker on the court’s decision will go a long way to assert the independence of Parliament and strengthen Ghana’s democracy.
“He has shown that he is not happy. He says there is a collusion between the judiciary and the executive. Those are the Speaker’s words, right? Yeah, so this decision will reinforce the Speaker’s views that he doesn’t agree. And so you are going to expect some pushback from the Speaker. Yeah, and it is good for our democracy.
“The Speaker needs to push back because when he does, it will force us to think we need judicial independence. That is what this decision underscores. The judiciary has become a bit weak. The Supreme Court is that weak. So we need a constitutional review,” he is quoted as saying in a report by Citinewsroom.com on November 12, 2024.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, overruled Speaker Alban Bagbin’s declaration of four seats in the House as vacant, ruling that the decision was unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court’s verdict follows a suit filed by Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin challenging Speaker Bagbin’s declaration.
The court, led by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo and comprising seven justices, ruled in favour of Afenyo-Markin, accepting all his arguments in a 5-2 majority decision.
Per the Supreme Court’s ruling, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) reclaimed its position as the Majority in Parliament.
The Speaker had declared their seats vacant per Article 97 (g) and (h) of the 1992 Constitution after the affected MPs decided to contest in the December 7, 2024, elections on tickets different from the ones they currently represent in Parliament.
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