General News of 2026-09-02
115 Days and Counting: How long will the people of Asante Akim North be without an MP?
It has been 115 days since the arrest of the Member of Parliament for Asante Akim North, Ohene Kwame Frimpong, popularly known as OK Frimpong, at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam on May 10, 2026, over allegations of fraud by the United States government.
This means that, for all these days, the people of Asante Akim North have been without representation in Ghana’s Parliament, as required by the 1992 Constitution.
Article 47(1) of the 1992 Constitution states that Ghana shall be divided into as many constituencies for the election of Members of Parliament as the Electoral Commission may prescribe, and each constituency shall be represented by one Member of Parliament.
The current situation has left many unanswered questions, including how long the people of Asante Akim North will have to wait and when the relevant authorities will act, given that very little information has emerged from Parliament on the matter.
Other lingering questions include whether OK Frimpong is still the MP for Asante Akim North, whether his continuous absence disqualifies him from the House, and when the Speaker would declare his seat vacant for a by-election to take place.
Well, the 1992 Constitution of Ghana provides some answers to these questions.
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What the 1992 Constitution says about vacancies in Parliament and by-elections
The Constitution of Ghana clearly states the conditions under which a seat in Parliament can be declared vacant. Being detained or facing extradition proceedings is not one of them.
Article 97 of the Constitution, which deals with the tenure of MPs, lists resignation, death, and circumstances that would otherwise disqualify a member from Parliament as some of the grounds for a seat to become vacant.
Here are the exact words of Article 97:
A member of Parliament shall vacate his seat in Parliament—
(a) upon a dissolution of Parliament; or
(b) if he is elected as Speaker of Parliament; or
(c) if he is absent, without the permission in writing of the Speaker, and he is unable to offer a reasonable explanation to the Parliamentary Committee on Privileges for fifteen sittings of a meeting of Parliament during any period that Parliament has been summoned to meet and continues to meet; or
(d) if he is expelled from Parliament after having been found guilty of contempt of Parliament by a committee of Parliament; or
(e) if any circumstances arise such that, if he were not a member of Parliament, they would cause him to be disqualified or ineligible for election under Article 94 of this Constitution; or
(f) if he resigns from office as a member of Parliament by writing under his hand addressed to the Speaker; or
(g) 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
(h) if he was elected a member of Parliament as an independent candidate and joins a political party.
The Standing Orders of Parliament also state that only the Speaker of Parliament can declare a seat vacant under any of the conditions stated above.
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By-election
Even after the Speaker has declared a seat vacant, there is still a process to be followed before a by-election can be held.
The Clerk of Parliament is required to notify the Electoral Commission of Ghana of the vacancy, and the Commission, within a stipulated period, is expected to hold the by-election.
Article 112 of the Constitution states: “Whenever a vacancy occurs in Parliament, the Clerk of Parliament shall notify the Electoral Commission in writing within seven days after becoming aware that the vacancy has occurred; and a by-election shall be held within thirty days after the vacancy occurred except that where the vacancy occurred through the death of a member, the by-election shall be held within sixty days after the occurrence of the vacancy”.
The lacuna in the Constitution
The question, therefore, remains: How long will the people of Asante Akim North be without representation in the House, given that none of the provisions stated above appears to address the current situation?
The MP has not resigned, nor has he been convicted, which means there is currently no clear basis for the Speaker to declare his seat vacant.
The MP has been detained for 115 days, meaning he has missed more than 15 consecutive sittings of the House. But is his absence without permission?
Even if his absence were deemed to be without permission, which appears unlikely given that the Clerk of Parliament has issued a statement indicating that the House was providing the embattled MP with the necessary assistance, he would have to return to Ghana to face the Privileges Committee before the Speaker could take action against him.
Precedent: Court ruling on an MP who was detained abroad
This is not the first time a Member of Ghana’s Parliament has been detained abroad for allegedly committing a crime.
In 2007, Eric Amoateng, who was then the sitting Member of Parliament for Nkoranza North, was detained for about two years and subsequently jailed in the United States, making him the first Ghanaian legislator to be imprisoned in a foreign country.
He was accused of drug trafficking and charged with eight counts relating to the importation, conspiracy to import, distribution, conspiracy to distribute, and possession with intent to distribute heroin in the United States.
Following his detention, the then Nkoranza North MP could not attend Parliament. Parliament subsequently granted him indefinite leave, a decision that was challenged by Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare at the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal ultimately rejected Parliament’s attempt to grant the MP indefinite leave.
When Eric Amoateng’s seat was declared vacant
Eric Amoateng’s seat was not declared vacant despite the Court of Appeal ruling that his indefinite leave was illegal.
Although he was arrested on November 12, 2005, his seat was declared vacant on Friday, February 9, 2007, after he submitted his resignation letter to the then Speaker of Parliament.
Conclusion
It is clear from the laws cited above that the people of Asante Akim North could remain without representation if the current situation persists.
The clearest way for them to regain representation in the shortest possible time would be for OK Frimpong to resign.
Also, given that this is the second time a sitting Member of Parliament has been detained abroad, potentially leaving his constituents without representation in Parliament, perhaps the laws governing the vacation of parliamentary seats need to be reviewed.
How long should an MP be detained abroad before his or her seat can be declared vacant?
BAI/MA
