Parliamentary Seats Impasse: Why the AG said Speaker Bagbin's lawyers were illegally procured

The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Dame, has accused the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, of violating the laws of Ghana.

Speaking to the media on October 30, 2024, after the Supreme Court dismissed an application by the Speaker challenging the court's order for a stay of the declaration of four seats in the House vacant, Dame reiterated a claim he made during the proceedings that Bagbin’s lawyers were illegally procured.

He pointed out that the Attorney General is supposed to be the lawyer for all state institutions, including the Office of the Speaker of Parliament, but private legal practitioners were hired to represent the Speaker even though it was his (the Speaker's) office which was sued and not him personally.

He added that the laws of the country required the Speaker’s office to seek authorisation before procuring private legal practitioners, but this did not happen.

“The Speaker’s representation is unlawful and of course, the point must be made. It is not an attempt to prevent the Speaker from having representation. If the Speaker wants to have a lawyer, the Speaker must procure the lawyer lawfully… Even when seeking the services of a lawyer to represent the government in cases outside the country, in foreign courts, it goes to PP (Public Procurement) approval, all the time.

“Even the former Chief Justice, Anin Yeboah, with all respect, using the services of (sic) Sory had to go through PP approval and I know for a fact that he (Speaker Bagbin) has not received any PP approval. And so, he's in flagrant violation of the provisions of the law," he said.

The Attorney General also indicated that even though the justices of the court decided not to rule on the matter when he raised it during the proceeding, he has the right to take it up.

“All rights are reserved in us to take it up further. A breach of the PPA Act constitutes a crime. And my contention is that you can't use a crime to defend a clear unconstitutional action. So, indeed, you are engaged in an unconstitutional action and you're using, with all due respect, the commission of a crime to further that unconstitutionality, that is wrong,” he added.

On the court’s dismissal of the Speaker’s application, Dame said that the ruling of the apex court of the land would help quell the misinformation and ignorance being propagated by a faction of the public.

About the ruling of the Supreme Court:

The apex court of Ghana threw out the application of the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, in the matter of the vacation of some four seats in Parliament.

Reading the ruling of the 5-member Supreme Court panel, Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo said that contrary to other assertions that it does not have jurisdiction over such a matter, it rather does.

She added that any person who does not comply with the order of the Supreme Court has committed a crime.

The CJ also said that the Supreme Court did no wrong in exercising its discretionary power in the matter before it.

She also indicated that the Speaker of Parliament's interpretation of Article 97 was not just against 4 Members of Parliament, but tens of thousands of Ghanaians.

Bagbin’s lawyer has asked the Supreme Court to set aside “the processes and proceedings in the Supreme Court” that led to the directive of the 5-member panel of the court, chaired by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, for him to stay his declaration of the seats vacant.

The lawyers also asked for the “vacating of the order of the Court dated October 18, 2024.”

Watch Dame’s remarks in the video below:





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Meanwhile, catch up on the latest Election Desk on GhanaWeb TV interview as Patricia Rockson Hammond sits down with Nana Akosua Frimpomaa Kumankumah, Flagbearer of the CPP, below: