Vacant Seats: How Speaker Bagbin 'threw missiles' at Akufo-Addo, Chief Justice, Dame, Afenyo-Markin

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, was on a rampage at the media on Wednesday, 10 November 2024, addressing the controversy surrounding his declaration of four seats in the house as vacant.

Alban Bagbin did not hold back his disdain for individuals and institutions of state he claimed were conspiring to undermine his authority.

There were ‘straight and stray bullets’ all over; some were aimed at the Supreme Court and its justices, the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Dame, and the leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) caucus in Parliament, Alexander Kwami Afenyo-Markin.

Supreme Court

The apex court of the land, the Supreme Court, received most of the shots fired by the Speaker of Parliament.

Speaker Bagbin accused the Supreme Court of colluding with the executive and meddling in the affairs of Parliament, an equally important branch of government. Bagbin bluntly told the court that it has no powers over Parliament and that its authority ends right at the doorstep of the House.

The Speaker even accused the Supreme Court of violating the 1992 Constitution of Ghana to appease the executive branch, expressing frustration at the speed with which the court convened to address his declaration of four seats in the House as vacant.

He said, “If I may ask, is it a legal matter for the Supreme Court to decide as to which side of the House constitutes the majority or minority? It is for good reason that justice is said to be blind and further, that justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done in all cases, not only in those cases to which some people appear to be sentimentally attached. I respectfully call on the Supreme Court to apply the same swiftness with which they attended to the ex parte application to the case involving the president’s refusal to receive the Human Rights and Family Values Bill passed by Parliament which has been pending before the same court for almost a year.”

“The court could not enjoin four members of Parliament from serving their constituents for 12 weeks but was very eager to deny the constituents of Assin North their representation because of their issue of allegiance,” he continued. “The Court cannot deny the constituents of SALL the sanctity of representation for years. The Court cannot even see that the constitution itself permits a denial of representation within three months to the holding of a general election.”

The court cannot deny the constituents of SALL (Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi) the sanctity of representation for years - Speaker Alban Bagbin pic.twitter.com/FXNlGXw97i

— Kafui Dey (@KafuiDey) November 6, 2024

Chief Justice Torkornoo

The Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, aside from receiving criticism of the Supreme Court, also received direct criticism for her pronouncements during the hearing of the Speaker’s application challenging the Supreme Court order for him to stay his declaration of the four vacant seats.

Bagbin dismissed the Chief Justice's assertion that Ghana is currently facing a constitutional crisis due to the “Parliament of Ghana not sitting.” He stated, “There is no constitutional crisis,” and emphasized that Parliament is functioning properly.

He further explained that his decision to adjourn Parliament sine die was made to allow Parliament’s leadership to resolve the impasse surrounding the vacant seats.

“There is no constitutional crisis. For over 32 years as a politician and over 42 years as a public servant, I have cherished the role Parliament plays in our democracy, and my mission is to leave Parliament a stronger institution than we found it,” he said. “Parliament is alive and working. It has not been dissolved or prorogued. The plenary sittings and meetings were adjourned indefinitely due to a lack of quorum caused by a walkout staged by the NPP members who were absent due to a disagreement,” Bagbin explained.



President Akufo-Addo

President Akufo-Addo also faced heavy criticism from the Speaker. In addition to indirectly accusing him of colluding with the Chief Justice to “sin” against the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, Bagbin took aim at the president’s handling of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Act, commonly known as the anti-gay bill.

He accused the President of treating Parliament with disdain, with the handling of the anti-gay bill being a notable example.

He said, “This was exhibited by the president’s refusal to even receive the LGBTQ+ Bill without any legal basis. The judiciary is supportive of this conduct by the receipt and processing of a suit on this matter.”

“Go through the constitution or the laws of Ghana. There is nowhere where the President can refuse to receive a bill passed by Parliament. In fact, the crafters of the Constitution were so careful that they even took away veto power from the President. So in Ghana, our President cannot veto a bill passed by Parliament. It's clear in the constitution that the President will receive the bill passed by Parliament.

“If he has concerns, he will communicate to Parliament that he has concerns about this bill that you have passed within seven days. Then he has 14 days to put across those concerns back to Parliament. And Parliament is called upon to reconsider the bill, taking his inputs into consideration. That is what is in the constitution and the laws of Ghana. So if the President refuses to even receive the bill, what has he done to the constitution?”



Attorney General Dame

Attorney General Godfred Dame also did not escape the Speaker’s criticism. Bagbin dismissed Dame's claim that he (the Speaker) violated the constitution by hiring a lawyer without going through the required procurement processes.

He rejected Dame’s suggestion that the Attorney General should have represented him in the matter, as Dame is the legal representative of all state institutions.

The Speaker further remarked that he would not have consulted Dame for legal representation, given that Dame held a different position on the issue.

Bagbin also taunted the Attorney General, saying, “When I was the Majority Leader of Parliament, Dame was a National Service Personnel at the House.”

"There's a vast difference between Parliament as an institution and the office of the Speaker. The Speaker is the party before the Supreme Court, not Parliament. So as Speaker, when the Attorney General is taking a different position from my position, I should still contract him as my counsel.

“I will leave it at that. I'll meet the Attorney General and I'll tell him my piece of mind on some legal issues and pronouncements he made at the Supreme Court. You know, Attorney Generals must be respected as learned. But it should not be part of what Obama referred to, not me. It will not work,” he said.

Afenyo-Markin

The Speaker also directed some indirect criticisms toward Alexander Afenyo-Markin, leader of the NPP Members of Parliament, who had filed an application at the Supreme Court challenging Bagbin’s declaration of the four seats as vacant.

The Speaker highlighted that in previous instances where he ruled on the status of seats for MPs, including Assin Central's Kennedy Agyapong, who had been absent for over 15 days without permission as mandated, no one "cried to the Supreme Court."

Bagbin further pointed out that when former Speaker Prof. Aaron Mike Ocquaye declared the Fomena seat vacant in 2020, there was no appeal to the Supreme Court for clarification.

Mocking Afenyo-Markin, the Effutu MP, Bagbin added, "I first appeared before the Supreme Court in 1983; by then, I don’t know where those who are running there now were."

BAI/OGB

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