'If they know the law they should come and face us' - Afenyo-Markin on Supreme Court's verdict

The Majority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has issued a bold statement regarding the Supreme Court's decision to suspend the execution of a ruling by the Speaker of Parliament.

He boldly dared the NDC caucus in parliament, saying, “ Now those NDC people who are walking all over the place proclaiming, if they know the law, they should come face us in the law!”

This was contained in a post shared by Citi 97.3 on X after the ruling.

Afenyo-Markin further expressed his satisfaction with the Supreme Court’s decision, highlighting the importance of respecting legal processes and governance in the country.

"The whole of last night we didn't sleep, we have been working all night. I myself being a practitioner of our court, made sure we put together a solid case and this afternoon we had justice. We came to court believing that the court would do right, and the court has just done it," he said.

The Majority leader further said that members of the Majority caucus are peaceful and firm supporters of democracy.

"We are democrats; we don't believe in violence, mischief, or unnecessary political chaos." he stated.

The Supreme Court's verdict resulted from the ruling of the Speaker of Parliament, which declared four seats in parliament vacant.

Background

The Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, announced that his caucus intended to invoke Article 97 (g) to demand that the seats of three New Patriotic Party MPs and that of an MP from the National Democratic Congress caucus be declared vacant.

Haruna Iddrisu’s reaction stemmed from the nominations filed by MPs for Agona West and Suhum, who are members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), to contest in the 2024 parliamentary election as independent candidates.

The independent MP for Fomena also filed his nomination to contest in the election on the ticket of the NPP, and the Amenfi Central MP, a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), also filed his nomination to contest as an independent candidate.

However, Article 97 [1(g) & (h)] of the 1992 Constitution states that “a member of Parliament shall vacate his seat in Parliament 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.”

In reaction to this, the Speaker of Parliament declared four seats vacant on October 17, 2024, resulting in the Minority becoming the Majority in parliament.

Prior to the Speaker's ruling on October 17, Afenyo-Markin took a legal action at the Supreme Court, seeking for clarification on the status of the four MPs who had decided to contest the upcoming December 2024 elections either as members of the NPP or as independent candidates.

He again filed for a stay of execution of the Speaker’s ruling on October 18, hence the Supreme court ruled in favour of majority caucus.

Read post below:

“If they know the law, they should come face us!’ Alexander Afenyo-Markin reacts following the Supreme Court’s decision to halt the execution of the Speaker’s ruling on four vacant seats. #GhanaPolls2024#ElectionBureau #CitiVerify pic.twitter.com/AKDTpoV3fj

— CITI FM 97.3 (@Citi973) October 18, 2024