The Supreme Court of Ghana has halted a recent ruling by the Speaker of Parliament, which declared the seats of four Members of Parliament (MPs) vacant. This decision, made by a five-member panel led by Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, came on October 18, 2024. The court determined that the Speaker’s action infringed on the rights of the MPs’ constituents and reinstated the four seats.
The ruling follows an ex parte application submitted by the Majority Leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin. He argued that the Speaker’s move was premature and legally flawed, insisting that such matters should first be fully adjudicated by the courts. The Supreme Court agreed to suspend the Speaker's decision for 10 days, preventing it from taking immediate effect.
The Speaker’s decision, based on Article 97 of the 1992 Constitution, suggested that MPs who switch political allegiance by running under a different party for future elections may lose their parliamentary seat. The four MPs in question were accused of doing exactly this, prompting the Speaker to declare their seats vacant. The ruling triggered a strong reaction from the Majority Caucus, who viewed the action as unjust.
With this temporary halt in place, the four MPs will retain their positions while the case moves through the legal process. The court has also directed Parliament to submit its statement of case and a memorandum of issues within seven days, allowing further legal proceedings to continue.
The ruling has added another dimension to the political atmosphere as Ghana approaches the 2024 general elections. Both sides are preparing for further legal battles. Afenyo-Markin welcomed the court’s decision, seeing it as an important step in ensuring justice and due process. The case is expected to be heard in full in the coming days
Content created and supplied by News Hub Creator . Opera News is a free to use platform and the views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not represent, reflect or express the views of Opera News. Any/all written content and images displayed are provided by the blogger/author, appear herein as submitted by the blogger/author and are unedited by Opera News. Opera News does not consent to nor does it condone the posting of any content that violates the rights (including the copyrights) of any third party, nor content that may malign, inter alia, any religion, ethnic group, organization, gender, company, or individual. Opera News furthermore does not condone the use of our platform for the purposes encouraging/endorsing hate speech, violation of human rights and/or utterances of a defamatory nature. If the content contained herein violates any of your rights, including those of copyright, and/or violates any the above mentioned factors, you are requested to immediately notify us using via the following email address newshub-gh@operanewshub.com and/or report the article using the available reporting functionality built into our
blogpay
Total Comments: 0