NPP MPs’ Parliament absence could be strategic to prevent implicit or explicit admission of Minority status - Lawyer

Private legal practitioner Kofi Bekai has stated that the refusal of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament (MPs) to attend a session was due to a direct or indirect admission of the minority in Parliament.

He explained that the NPP MPs are attempting to be strategic in order to avoid losing their majority in the House to the NDC MPs.

The Speaker of Parliament, Rt Hon Alban Sumana Bagbin, has once again adjourned Parliament indefinitely, following its reconvening on Thursday, November 7.

This decision came after an earlier two-week suspension of sitting.

Notably, the NPP Caucus petitioned the Speaker to reconvene, but their members did not appear in the chamber for parliamentary proceedings.

Bagbin stated in his address to the House that without committee input and an agenda, the session could not proceed as scheduled.

Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin later slammed the Speaker, accusing him of setting Parliament on fire.

Addressing a press conference in Parliament on Thursday, November 7, 2024, he said, “The speaker supervised chaos… Clearly, the NDC is on a warpath; they want confusion and they want lawlessness in this country, and all these are being supervised by Mr. Speaker.

“The Speaker is setting the country on fire; we were disappointed with his non-reconciliatory during his press conference. We call on him to demonstrate statesmanship; we want him to know that although we were not happy on the day he was elected, it wasn’t the NDC that put him but members of our side.’’

Mr. Bekai, reacting to this, stated that the Speaker should have shown leadership and instructed the NDC MPs to move back to their seats as minority in accordance with the directive issued by the Supreme Court.

Mr. Bekai noted that he (the Speaker) has a responsibility to ensure sanity in the House and prevent chaos by ensuring that the declaration of the four vacant seats is stayed until finality has been brought to the pending matter before the Supreme Court.

He claimed that “if they go and sit there on the side of the Minority, they have accepted the fact that they are the Minority.” What happens if the Speaker does not rule and those to his right are the majority, while those to his left are the minority? We must recognise that there is government business to attend to. The majority in Parliament is in charge of government business in the House, so the NPP has maintained its majority position.

The NDC had also taken over the majority seats, so if the NPP sits on the left and the Speaker refuses to address the issue, it may jeopardise the NPP MPs, which is what they want to avoid. They want to sit in the seats that were originally assigned to them.

Speaking on Nyankonton Mu Nsem on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM, Mr. Kofi Bekai said, “The court has made specific orders, and you have been served, and it is your responsibility as a Speaker to obey those orders.” He may be dragged back to court and cited for contempt for wilfully refusing to obey the court’s orders. But I can’t say whether the court will grant those orders.

He explained that the Speaker should have reverted the entire situation status quo ante, which means, “I declared four seats vacant, and now one side is claiming to be the majority, which is even a loose point, and so if that is what is causing the confusion now, we have to revert to the old ways until the final matter is addressed.” There would have been no harm if the Speaker had asked the NDC MPs to return to their seats on the Speaker’s left side. You have the authority to direct the MPs to do what is right.

You needed to bring the old thing back as ordered by the Supreme Court to bring sanity in the House of Parliament. The indifference of the Speaker is what is urging the NDC MPs to continue doing what they are doing. Even if you disagree with the Supreme Court, you don’t organise a press conference and accuse the Judiciary and the Executive of collaborating to undermine the powers of Parliament. That was an unfortunate comment he made.