South Dayi MP Sues Speaker of Parliament at the High Court

 

The member of parliament for South Dayi Constituency of the Volta Region, Hon. Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor has filed a writ in the Accra High Court seeking among many others an injunction to prevent the speaker from calling back the members of parliament to the chamber for parliamentary seating to resume.

A new development which continues to extend discussions on a topic many describe as an issue of a constitutional legality and a political power struggle.

For about three weeks past, the Parliament of Ghana has been disorganized as clarity is been sought on a ruling of the Speaker to dismiss four (4) members of the parliament who had crossed carpet or switched their political affiliations as incumbent MPs yet still are candidates seeking re-election in the country’s December Polls. 

Prior to the ruling, the majority caucus of the parliament applied to seek an injunction on the Speaker from making such a ruling as they knew the decision would eventually change their position to minority.

A move that has since then generated a lot of controversies, political debates and legal battles between the two major political parties in the country with the Judiciary being at the center of it to make the right interpretations and judgment.

Although a suit pertaining the same case was heard and determined by the Supreme Court earlier, the MP and lawyer in a submission argued that, the High Court should have rather heard the case on the Speaker’s ruling as opposed to the Supreme Court which heard the case and granted an injunction asking the speaker to revoke his ruling and allow the said MPs stay in the parliament.

According to Hon. Dafeamekpor, the constitution clearly defines the role of the High Courts in regards to parliamentary affairs including a decision or ruling of the speaker which seems to be a contravention of law and therefore the High Court is supposed to be the appropriate venue for such an issue to be resolved.

The MP went on to explain, “Article 99(1)(a) of the constitution is clear on this”, this is a case that should be determined by the high court thus the ruling of the Supreme Court to squash the decision of the Speaker dismissing the four MPs is also invalid by law as the High Court is the only legal avenue for settling the debate.

The Speaker who had adjourned the house to 7th November is yet to receive a full judgment from the Supreme Court upon its determination of the case having been denied some applications his legal representatives made to the court on the matter which included a recusal of one of the judges on the bench due to his known affiliation with a political party.

However, it is unclear yet if the parliament will seat successfully on Thursday or the application of the South Dayi MP would be granted in his favor to injunct the Speaker from calling the house back to business.

With less than a month to Ghana’s general elections, many stakeholders are calling for the MPs and the Caucus leaders to resort to internal mechanisms available to resolve such issues rather than allowing for external involvements which is creating uncalled political tension within the country.