Supreme Court’s judgment will help future constitutional reviews - Sammy Obeng

The Executive Director for Parliamentary Network Africa, Sammy Obeng says the Supreme Court judgment on the vacant seat’s saga will play a key role in future constitutional reviews.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, after a statement by Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson declared four parliamentary seats vacant for the breach of Article 97(1)(g) of the 1992 constitution.

The affected constituencies are Amenfi Central, Fomena, Agona West, and Suhum.

Subsequently, the Majority Leader of Parliament Alexander Afenyo-Markin filed an application for an injunction and an interpretation of the constitution at the Supreme Court to challenge that declaration by the Speaker of Parliament.

In a judgement on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, five out of the seven members of the Supreme Court panel ruled that Speaker Bagbin’s interpretation of Article 97(1)(g) and (h) was unconstitutional.

Speaking on Starr Today with Joshua Kodjo Mensah and Tutuwaa Danso, the Executive Director of PNAfrica stressed that the ruling could eventually play a key role in any future constitutional review processes.

“When constitutions are reviewed, they are done on the back of experiences that a country or society may have gone through. It will not be surprising that in future constitutional review processes of the courts will be considered and seen as part of the wording that is placed on our future constitution going forward,” he added.

He further noted that, despite some potential disagreements with the judgment, the clarity provided by the Supreme Court’s ruling is seen as a crucial first step toward stabilizing parliament’s decision-making process.

“Although there may be some disagreements with it, at least this may be a very good first step to ensure that whenever an issue like this crops up in the future, we will not be starting from ground zero, but we’ll be starting from the premise of what the courts have said, and then we’ll deal with that from there.”