South Dayi MP, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor has stated that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) caucus in Parliament is deeply troubled by the Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling to stay Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin’s decision to declare four parliamentary seats vacant. According to him, the Supreme Court erred in its decision to issue a stay of execution on Speaker Bagbin’s declaration.
His comments follow the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday, October 18, which issued a stay of execution on Speaker Bagbin’s declaration of four parliamentary seats as vacant. The Supreme Court’s ruling directed Parliament to recognise the four MPs in question, allowing them to continue representing their constituencies and perform their official duties.
This directive will remain in effect, not for the 10 days initially requested by the applicants, but until the court delivers its final ruling on the matter. But speaking on JoyFM’s Top Story on Friday, October 18, Mr Dafeamekpor argued that the legal principles guiding the practice of law in Ghana stipulate that an ex parte order should not remain in effect for more than nine days.
He expressed his disagreement with the Supreme Court’s decision to suspend the Speaker’s declaration until the case is finally resolved. “What is the Supreme Court staying, what order? There is nothing to stay. This is a non-executable order. The Speaker gave information to Parliament,” he said.
He stated that Speaker Bagbin did not issue a ruling but merely shared information with Parliament based on the petition filed by Tamale South MP, Haruna Iddrisu. “This is the Speaker’s information to the House so how do you stay such an information,” he asked.
“The person who spoke to the Hosue said this is the information I have for you, so if you are labelling it as a ruling, I don’t know how that can be so labelled. He says this is the information I have that these four Members of Parliament have by their conduct done a,b,c.
“The Speaker has given information to the House then somebody goes to the court and says that this amounts to a certain order and therefore, that order should be stayed. How is this to be stayed, with all due respect to the court” he questioned. Mr Dafeamekpor further asserted that the court had made a legal error, stressing that the Speaker’s communication was not subject to execution.
By: Prince Adu-Owusu
