Vacant Seats: Attorney-General challenges Bagbin’s inclusion as defendant in Afenyo-Markin’s suit

The Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, on Wednesday, 30 October 2024, raised an objection to the inclusion of the Speaker of Parliament as a respondent in a suit challenging Alban Bagbin’s declaration of four seats in Parliament as vacant.

The Attorney-General made the challenge during a Supreme Court hearing of an application by the Speaker demanding a reversal of the court’s earlier decision to suspend his declaration of the vacant seats.

Addressing a Supreme Court panel led by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkonoo, the Attorney-General emphasized that he, as the representative of the government in all legal matters, should have been the sole respondent and not the Speaker.

“The first defendant (the Speaker) is not even a proper party to the proceedings before the court, and his absence will not impede the court’s ability to proceed with the hearing of the matter,” he said.

“It is even improper for the first defendant to be joined in this action; the proper defendant should solely be the Attorney General,” he added.

He also raised concerns over the decision by the Speaker of Parliament to engage the services of a private law firm instead of relying on the Attorney-General’s office.

Sory@Law, acting as legal representatives for the Speaker of Parliament, filed an application to challenge a ruling by the Supreme Court suspending the declaration of four seats as vacant by the Speaker.

In an application dated Monday, 28 October 2024, Sory@Law, lawyers for the Speaker, argued that the Supreme Court, among other issues, had no jurisdiction in hearing the interlocutory application by the Leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) caucus, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, which led to the court’s decision on 18 October 2024.

However, after listening to arguments from parties in the case, the court ruled to dismiss the Speaker’s application.

GA/KA

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