Majority Leader Seeks Supreme Court’s Opinion on Moves to Declare Seats of Independent MPs Vacant
Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has filed an injunction application at the Supreme Court in response to the Minority’s efforts to declare the seats of independent candidates vacant.
This follows an announcement by former Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu, who intends to invoke Article 97(1)(g) of the Constitution to vacate the seats of three Majority MPs and one NDC MP.
Article 97(1)(g) states that an MP shall vacate their seat if they leave the party they were elected under or seek to remain in Parliament as an independent candidate.
Haruna Iddrisu has already written to the Speaker of Parliament, requesting the declaration of these four parliamentary seats vacant.
If the motion succeeds, the NDC, currently with 137 MPs, would become the Majority party, altering the balance of power in the House.
At present, the Majority holds 138 seats, while the Minority holds 137.
Afenyo-Markin seeks to avoid repeating the precedent set in 2020, when then NPP MP Andrew Amoako Asiamah’s seat was declared vacant.
He believes that the Supreme Court should be allowed to resolve this issue.
Constitutional lawyer Justice Abdulai has noted that the constitutional provision for declaring the MPs’ seats vacant is clear, leaving little room for legal manoeuvring.
Source: Felix Nyaaba//expressnewsghana.com
About Author
