‘I don’t want to believe it is coming from the Speaker’ – Majority Leader on Bagbin’s ‘outburst

Supreme Court hands down landmark ruling on Deputy Speakers

Majority and presidency celebrate vote as victory for democracy

Majority Leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has expressed shock at the reaction of Speaker Alban Bagbin to a recent ruling by the Supreme Court.

The apex court via a unanimous decision last week ruled that Deputy Speakers of Parliament could vote on matters whiles presiding and could be counted to form quorum. By so doing, they also struck out sections of the Standing Orders they said were unconstitutional.

Speaker Alban Bagbin in a statement of March 11 addressed the verdict and subsequent commentary on same by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who celebrated it as progressive and long overdue.

“I have resisted the temptation of making a comment on the judgment of the Supreme Court on the issue of the voting rights of Deputy Speakers when presiding. But the unfortunate and myopic comment of the President has compelled me to let it out,” the statement read.

“The SC decision, is to say the least, not only an absurdity but a reckless incursion into the remit of Parliament. The trend of unanimity is equally troubling. It doesn’t help explore and expand our legal jurisprudence,” the statement added going on to explain why the President’s comments were misplaced.

Reacting to Bagbin’s views, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said he was shocked and refused to believe as yet that was the position of the Speaker. He was speaking to TV3 on Friday after Bagbin’s reaction was widely published.

“I had some discussions with the Speaker, that’s just three days ago, we didn’t discuss this matter. I remember sometime back; some statement was attributed to him and he came to deny that it didn’t come from him.

“I think these are early days yet. I am looking at the language that has been employed. I don’t want to believe that it is coming from the Speaker and I have even sent some message to him enquiring whether it is him but he has not responded yet. So I am not able to comment on that,” he added.

What Akufo-Addo said that may have triggered Bagbin

“All organs of the state including me [President Akufo-Addo], as the head of the executive, are subject to the constitution. There is no body or organ in the Ghanaian state that is above the laws of the land.

“To suggest that Parliament should operate without interference is to advocate for the very matter we have tried to avoid, the concentration of power. We have had that experience before and don’t want that,” the President said on Thursday, March 10, 2022.

Background

Following controversy over the rejection and later approval of the 2022 budget by one-sided Caucuses of the 8th Parliament, a private legal practitioner, Justice Abdulai, filed a case against at the Attorney General at the Supreme Court.

He prayed the Court to interpret two Articles – 102 and 104 – of the 1992 Constitution and by so doing to declare the proceedings in Parliament on November 30, 2021, which led to the passage of the 2022 Budget and Economic Policy as unconstitutional.

He specifically cited the fact that the Presiding Speaker, First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, had counted his vote despite acting as Speaker.

However, in defence of the State, the Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, argued that there was no express provision in the 1992 Constitution that stops a Deputy Speaker presiding over proceedings from voting or counting himself as part of MPs present to form the right quorum.

The Minority have expressly rejected the decision with Leader Haruna Iddrisu referring to it as repugnant to the provisions in Article 102 and 104.

“The Court’s ruling aptly captures the judicial support for the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy), for a struggling economy in destress,” he said.

“The Judiciary of Ghana is also failing Ghana’s parliamentary democracy in their inability to appreciate the true meaning of Article 110 of the 1992 Constitution that Parliament shall, by Standing Orders, regulate its own proceedings.”

Read the full ruling of the Supreme Court below: