Vacant seats case: High Court would have still referred interpretation to Supreme Court – Assafuah

Member of Parliament for Old Tafo, Vincent Ekow Assafuah has said that even if the vacant seats case had gone to the High Court, the High Court would have still referred any constitutional interpretation to the Supreme Court.

He expressed the view that the Supreme Court had jurisdiction to hear the matter.

“Even if this matter had gone to the High Court, the High Court would have, at a point, still referred any interpretation to the Supreme Court,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 on Saturday, November 16.

On Tuesday, November 12, the Supreme Court by a 5-2 majority decision upheld the suit filed by Alexander Afenyo-Markin. The two dissenting justices thought the apex court did not have jurisdiction over this matter.

The two dissenting justices declined jurisdiction to hear the matter.

The Supreme Court has ruled that a seat in parliament can only be vacated if the lawmaker has a switched political party.

The Supreme Court in its ruling on the case of the vacant seats also said that the ruling of the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin cannot take effect in this current parliament.

“It follows from the above, therefore, that the only plausible conclusion which must necessarily flow from a holistic and contextual reading of Article 97(1)(g) and (h) is that an MP’s seat shall be vacated upon departure from the cohort of his elected party in Parliament to join another party in Parliament while seeking to remain in that Parliament as a member of the new party,” the court stated.

The conclusion of the concurrent opinion written by Justice Kwaku Adibu Asiedu said “In conclusion, I wish to state that a common thread runs through each of the provisions in article 97(1)(b) to (h) and that thread is a condition precedent without which a Member of Parliament cannot, in law, be said to have forfeited his seat in Parliament.

“The condition precedent is that the prohibited act or acts which can cause a Member of Parliament to vacate his seat in Parliament must affect his status as a Member of Parliament in the current session of Parliament.  The condition precedent cannot be an act which has an effect, or which may have an effect, not in the current session of Parliament but a future Parliament.

“In my humble view, therefore, it is incorrect and unconstitutional for the 1st Defendant to rule that the Members of Parliament concerned have vacated their seats in Parliament just for the reason that they have filed nominations to contest, as Members of Parliament, in the upcoming general elections on tickets other than those on which they were voted as members of the current Parliament. It is for these reasons that I voted to grant relief one endorsed on the Plaintiff’s writ.”

With the latest ruling by the Supreme Court, Parliament is expected to be recalled with the NDC MPs reverting to their original Minority status.

ALEXANDER AFENYO MARKIN VRS SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT & ANOR

 

 

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