Vacant Seats: You must be a dunce not to understand this - Kwesi Pratt

Veteran journalist, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has taken a swipe at New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament (MPs) over the suit filed by their member, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, for an interpretation of some clauses in Article 97 of the 1992 Constitution.

Afenyo-Markin asked the court for a proper interpretation of the said clauses after the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, relied on them to declare four seats in the House vacant.

Commenting on the matter during a panel discussion on "Good Morning Ghana" on October 23, 2024, Kwesi Pratt indicated that the action of the leader of the NPP caucus was totally unnecessary.

He said that the words of the constitution are so clear that any person who can read would understand what it means to be that the affected MPs were rightly removed from the House.

“If we go to the constitution which provides us with the legal framework for the conduct of business in Parliament, it’s so clear that even this clamour for interpretation by the Supreme Court is absolutely nonsensical, absolutely nonsensical. Because the provisions are so clear, even babies can read these provisions and understand them.

“Even those babies, if they were to take this constitution and read it, they would understand and would not be calling for interpretation from anywhere… This is Article 97(h) of the Constitution and Article 97(g) states clearly that a Member of Parliament loses his or her seat if he leaves the party of which he was a member at the time of his election to Parliament to join another party or seeks to remain in Parliament as an independent member, or if he was elected a member of Parliament as an independent candidate and joins a political party,” he said.

He added, “Who needs interpretation for this? You must be a dunce, a complete dunce to need interpretation for this. This is clear language.”

The veteran journalist also pointed out that the constitution of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) states that its parliamentarians who go independent and contest the party’s candidate are no longer their members.

The NPP MP for Anyaa Sowutuom, Dr. Dickson Adomako Kissi, the co-panellist on the programme, argued that the provision in Article 97 applies only when a legislator wants to change his or her political affiliation in the same parliament, not a future one.

“But is this for the future or for now?” the MP asked Kwesi Pratt, who rejected his explanation.

Background:

On Tuesday, October 22, 2024, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, adjourned the sitting of the House sine die (indefinitely), just a week after Members of Parliament reconvened following a long recess.

Speaker Bagbin, before suspending the proceedings of Parliament, indicated that even though the House had the numbers to form a quorum for a meeting, it did not have the numbers to make decisions per the Standing Orders of the House.

The House did not have the numbers for decision-making because New Patriotic Party Members of Parliament had boycotted the sitting over the brouhaha on which political party should form the Majority Caucus.

The Speaker mentioned the directive by the Supreme Court asking him to stay his declaration of four seats in the House vacant which has made MPs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Majority Caucus.

Bagbin did not indicate whether he was going to adhere to the order of the court and went on to adjourn the House indefinitely.

The Supreme Court of Ghana on October 18, 2024, stayed the ruling of Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, in the matter of the vacation of some four seats.

This occurred as the highest court in the land, led by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, considered an application from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament.

The decision by the apex court effectively suspends the implementation of the Speaker’s ruling on October 17, 2024, pending further legal review and final determination.

Bagbin had granted a motion by the Minority Leader Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson to declare some four seats vacant, making the NDC become the party with majority members in Parliament.

Delivering his ruling, the Speaker noted that the decision by the affected MPs to contest in the December 7, 2024, election as independent or on the ticket of a party different from the party on whose ticket they currently serve, contravened Article 97 (g) and (h) of the 1992 Constitution.

He noted that the motive and operational effect of Article 97(g) and (h) was to cure the issues of cross carpeting and defection as witnessed in parliaments of old.

He stated that the intent of Article 97 (g) (i) was to cure party loyalty throughout the stay of an MP in Parliament.

He emphasised that the affected MPs by their decision and the Notice of Polls issued by the Electoral Commission for the December 7, 2024, parliamentary elections have vacated their seat.

The affected seats and their MPs included Cynthia Morrison (Agona West), Kwadjo Asante (Suhum), Andrew Amoako Asiamah (Fomena), and Peter Kwakye Ackah (Amenfi Central).

The NDC is upholding the Speaker's ruling, while the NPP is supporting the Supreme Court's decision.

Watch his remarks in the video below:

Clamour for Supreme Court interpretation is nonsensical; you must be dumb not to understand this - Kwesi Pratt wades into MPs vacant seats saga#GoodMorningGhana #MetroTV pic.twitter.com/jlApGeKUmj

— Metro TV Ghana (@metrotvgh) October 23, 2024

Meanwhile, catch up on the latest episode of The Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV with Etsey Atisu as he caught with Philip Atawura, who just returned from a successful kidney transplant in India.



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