What if Speaker bars four MPs? - Edudzi Tamakloe challenges Supreme Court on possible ruling

The Director of Legal Affairs for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) says the decision by the Supreme Court on Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin’s ruling, which declared four parliamentary seats vacant, is “extremely strange.”

Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe told Channel One TV in an interview that Ghana's democracy is in danger.

“First of all, this ruling is extremely strange, you understand? The motion for abridgment of time should not go ex-parte. It is not the case that the NPP in Parliament has been stopped from working; they voluntarily staged a walkout. There are normal proceedings in Parliament.”

“If the Speaker of Parliament instructs the Marshal of Parliament not to allow the four MPs’ presence in Parliament, what will the Supreme Court do?

“Respectfully, we’re beginning to test the patience of Ghanaians, and this experiment called democracy is extremely dangerous.”

The Supreme Court has halted the Speaker of Parliament’s decision, which declared the seats of four Members of Parliament vacant on Thursday evening.

In a ruling on Friday afternoon (Oct 18), a five-member panel of the court, presided over by Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, held that declaring the seats vacant goes against the rights of their constituents.

Other members of the panel were Justices Mariama Owusu, Kwame Adibu Asiedu, Ernest Yao Gaewu, and Yaw Darko Asare.

By the decision, the seats of the four Members of Parliament have been reinstated.

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