Leader of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP’s) Caucus in Parliament says the Speaker of the House has yielded to the ruling of the Supreme Court, staying execution of the Speaker’s declaration of 4 seats vacant.
The apex court, on Friday, October 18, 2024, halted the decision of the Speaker Alban Bagbin, which decision declared 4 parliamentary seats vacant.
Consequently, the court instructed Parliament to recognise and allow the affected Members of the House to fully represent their respective constituencies as well as carry out their official duties until a substantive case challenging the Speaker’s declaration is determined.
The apex court’s ruling sparked tension with the National Democratic Congress’ caucus insisting that the Speaker’s decision which gave them majority in the House stood and that they would jealously protect their new status.
When the House reconvened on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, Alban Bagbin acknowledged the ruling of the court and proceeded to adjourn the House indefinitely, citing lack of quorum to transact business, public interest and “the exigencies of the state of affairs in Parliament” as reasons for his decision.
Reacting to the adjournment in an interview on JoyNews TV, Afenyo-Markin said, “Mr. Speaker has yielded to the authority of the Supreme Court. That has been established and I respect him for that”.
He stated that the Speaker, in a meeting ahead of the sitting, recognised him as the Majority Leader and faulted the NDC Caucus’ move to seat on the majority side.
“He kept mentioning Majority Leader, he’s accorded me that respect. I will give him that respect”.
Afenyo-Markin, however, took issues with the Speaker for claiming there was no quorum to take decisions when he (the Speaker) failed to take a roll call to establish whether there was a quorum or not for such an activity.
“Introducing quorum and all that is needless. Because I don’t how that got introduced into the whole equation. Because he has avoided the roll call and he said he was going to vary the order of proceedings”.
He is also not happy with Alban Bagbin for failing to denounce the NDC caucus taking over the majority seats.
