Category: General

The Apex Court of Ghana has released its full reasoning that quashed Speaker Bagbin’s declaration of four seats vacant.

On November 12, the Supreme Court by a 5-2 majority decision declared Speaker’s decision as unconstitutional, thus clearing the way for the affected four MPs to return to parliament.

The Court clarified that an MP can only be deemed to have vacated their seat if they change their political identity and continue serving in Parliament under this new affiliation.

The Court explained that an MP’s seat becomes vacant if they cross the floor to join another party while serving in Parliament. Similarly, independent MPs who align themselves with a political party must vacate their seats, as their original mandate was under an independent status.

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Leader of the Liberian delegation to the Community Parliament, Senator Edwin Melvine Snowe Jr. has called on the West Africa sub-region to prioritize harmonization of a single currency and telecommunication systems.

This, he stated though important, but would have to be achieved over time as Members of the Community Parliament still express divergent views in approaching and addressing the subject matter.

In an interview, on the subject matter of having a common constitution in the sub-region, where most of the time English speaking West African member states have a different constitution from French and Lusophone speaking member states, Chairman of the Community’s Parliament Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) noted that, it will take many years to achieve and added that there is the need to look at things that affect our day-to-day life of our people in the sub-region.

“If I leave Ghana now, travel two and half hours to the border with Ivory Coast, Togo, I have to look for a way of getting a new currency on that side, so our market women who are doing cross border trading, they are going through a lot of challenges”, he lamented.

“Again, same market women moving from Liberia to Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ivory Coast all the four member states within the Manu River Bassen they have different currencies, so trading in that small region you have to change currencies for every jurisdiction that you enter into which makes it very challenging.

So, harmonizing our regional constitution is possible; but will take many, many more years to achieve. What is more pressing for me for now is currency, telecommunication and transportation”, he emphasized.

As to whether as a sub-region, we will ever get there, he noted that it’s has been quite challenging and he has had the thinking that to get there “we need to do it in phases. I have suggested we look at the Francophone Countries; they already have a single currency with the exception of Guinea that has the Guinea France”.

“So, you put all the French member countries and Lusophone together, you join them with Cape Verde which has their own currency then they have one currency and do the same with English speaking member countries. Then you start with two currencies, and as time goes on the two currencies will be metamorphosed to a single currency for the West African sub-region.

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As Parliament of Ghana is recalled for an emergency meeting today, Thursday, November 7, 2024, chief whip of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the House, Governs Kwame Agbodza has served notice that none of the four affected persons whose seat has been declared vacant should show up on the floor of the House.

In the wake of the development at the Supreme Court, Amenfi Central’s Yaw Peter Kwakye-Ackah of the NDC is contesting the December 7, 2024 election as an independent candidate same with, Suhum and Agona West, while the only independent candidate, Andrew Asiamah Amoako rejoined his mother party the NPP.

At a press conference addressed by the NDC group in Parliament, they indicated that if their former colleagues show up, it will be a breach of the portion of the 1992 Republican constitution; and Article 97 is clear that if you go independent you vacate your seat automatically.

Again, the constitution of Ghana is bigger than the Supreme Court, the President and Parliament.

“We are not here to do whatever the Supreme Court said, I am here knowing we have more of the numbers than the NPP; whatever is in court we are not in court under any condition and the Speaker has told you he cannot tell us where to seat in the chamber; leave the court issue for those interested in the court issue”.

“Whatever will happen, will happen tomorrow, and the Parliament of Ghana should remain supreme; the health of every democracy is the health of the Parliament. South Arabia has courts we should not toy with the democracy of Ghana”.

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The Rt. Hon. Speaker, Alban Bagbin has accused the Executive and Judiciary arms of government of colluding to weaken parliament following their recent interference in the workings of Parliament.

At his media engagement on Wednesday, November 6, 2024, the Speaker stated that, “recent acts of the Judiciary and Executive interference in the workings of parliament pose a direct challenge to the essence, jurisdiction, authority, powers, and functioning of the esteemed institution of parliament, which is the repository of the sovereign will of the people of Ghana. It is becoming increasingly clear, the Judiciary and the Executive are seemingly colluding to weaken parliament”.

“The powers of the Judiciary ends where the nose of the Parliament starts. The Constitution is very clear on freedom of speech and of proceedings of parly. Article 115 and 116 grant members of parliament privileges and immunity of speech, debates, and proceedings on any matter or thing brought by a member, in or before Parliament, by petition, Bill, motion or otherwise”. Thus, happenings in parliament must remain in parliament.

He said the current brouhaha in parliament may be likened to a “power play between the arms of government,” and it has the potential to undermine our democracy and the authority of Parliament. Its outcomes could subvert Ghana’s constitutional order and the democratic system Ghanaians have toiled, sacrificed their lives, and shed blood to establish for decades.

He said Ghanaians in 2020 chose consensus and collaborative governance to a winner-take-all government, thus rejecting the majoritarian system, “where the Minority have a say, but the Majority have its way”.

With this in mind, it is unfortunate that the courts are replete with debates and proceedings of Parliament mostly initiated by members of parliament, and even leaders of Parliament, who ought to know better.

This, in his opinion may be one of the reasons parliament and MPs are not respected and treated with disdain, and was exhibited by the President’s refusal to even receive the LGBTQ+ Bill duly processed and passed by Parliament.
“The Judiciary is supportive of such a conduct by the receipt and processing of a suit on this subject matter. These are dangerous precedents in our democratic journey. They have sinned against the Constitution and must seek the opportunity to confess and repent to be forgiven”, he stated.

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Former Speaker of the Liberian House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Edwin Snowe Jr. said in terms of the democratic journey in the West African sub-region, member states are not yet there but are on course to achieving their goals.

“We are not there yet; like I say to most of you who interview me, I see as a glass half full not half empty. Will we get there? Yes, I believe we will get there”.

The chairman of the Community Parliament’s Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) in an interview said, Ghana is a key actor in our political dispensation in the region.

That is why we are always concerned when anything seems to be unstable or get sensitive in Ghana. “We get concerned, Ghana has been a symbol of our democracy in the sub-region; Ghana has done well and set high standards in the Region and we look up to Ghana to do it right”.

This, he said in reference to the upcoming general elections on December 7, 2024, when the country will elect the next president and legislatures for the next four years.

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The Rt. Hon Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin will today, Wednesday, November 6, 2024 address the media on recent development in Parliament in the wake of both the Majority and Minority insisting they form the Majority leading to the Effutu lawmaker taking the matter to the Supreme Court.

A press release issued by the Public Affairs sub-division of Parliament said broader issues concerning democratic development in Ghana will also be addressed by the Speaker.

“This engagement aims to provide an opportunity for the media to discuss critical issues affecting Ghana’s parliamentary democracy, including recent events that have led to significant political developments,” the release dated November 5 stated.

It added that, “The address will take place on Wednesday, 6th November 2024 at 2:00 pm, at the Justice D.F. Annan Auditorium, Job 600, Parliament House.”

Parliament is currently not sitting because Mr Bagbin on October 17 adjourned the House indefinitely. This followed his declaration of four seats vacant, a ruling which he has since been ordered by the Supreme Court not to implement.

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In what seems to be the order of the day, Presidents within French speaking West Africa and Lusophones, have developed the penchant for dissolving their Parliaments.

Speaking on the situation in Senegal, Chairman of the Committee on political affairs in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Edwin Malvin Snowe Jr. says per the Senegal constitution, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye acted within the confines of the Constitution.

He further pointed out that the Senegalese constitution calls for dissolution of the parliament by the President within the period of one year, so he acted within the confines of the constitution calling for fresh election which is November 17, 2024.

“Yes, it has its own financial implication on the Country but that is what the constitution calls for. In Senegal, like I said, it is by the constitution and I wish them peaceful Parliamentary elections because the constitution calls for it and I think there were some legislations that the president felt that his legislative agenda was being challenged and did not have the majority there, so he calls for fresh elections”.

In an interview, he noted that, now if this election is conducted and he still has the Minority, he cannot call for fresh election. The next day he has to give it that constitutional lifespan.

“You know again, each country has its own constitution and their issues are different. You just have a major issue in Ghana that we followed, for example where we taught the ruling party has lost the Majority in Parliament but the Supreme Court said no and it’s the highest court in the land so each country has its own style, laws and practices”

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Ahead of Guinea Bissau’s Parliamentary elections on November 24, 2024, President Umaro Sissoco Embalo issued a decree closing the opposition-dominated Parliament saying it is an opportune moment, in line with their constitution.

But the Chairman of the Community Parliament’s Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe Jr. explained that, the Constitution says the president can dissolve Parliament one year after; but in the case of Guinea Bissau it was four months after, “which runs contrary to the constitution”.

This, he noted are some of the things that ECOWAS need to listen to. “We can no longer treat ECOWAS as presidents’ club; we need to be bold to our leaders when something is going wrong”, he said in an interview.

The Leader of the Liberian delegation pointed out that, especially in the country of Guinea Bissau, where we have ECOWAS troops there, if anything goes wrong in Guinea Bissau ECOWAS would be seen as part of it because it is protecting the peace and security there.

He added that Guinea Bissau’s situation is more challenging for them, saying they are now calling for Parliamentary elections, “and I hope that this time around the constitution would be well respected and the right things done”

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Will the three Sahel Countries, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger stay or stick to their guns to ditch the sub-regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) despite the goodwill shown by the Authority of Heads of States for the bloc to remain united?

This is what bothers the powers that be as the time draws closer since the three countries served notice of severing ties with ECOWAS.

Chairman of the Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) at ECOWAS, Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe Jr has said the whole situation “is an uphill battle, quite challenging, and some will say doubtful. But I’m an optimistic person, so I would like to keep hope alive, so we are keeping hope alive in the interest of our people or citizens of the Region”, he said in an interview.

Chairman Snowe Jr. further pointed out that their decision will not affect those in the upper bracket but affects those in the lower bracket. “Freely we visit each other without restrictions, but the Community will have to change a lot of those things where one will have to obtain visa and a lot of things for our citizens. The truth is that it is quite challenging. And we are very hopeful that at the last minute, there could be some divine intervention”.

In the wake of the stands taken by the three Sahel countries, should the democratic bar on good governance and democracy be lowered in the sub-region?, No, rather we should do better and we need to treat democracy in its true sense of the word and be a little more transparent in our dealings with our citizens, he added.

Furthermore, we are the custodians of the peace and implementation of constitutional order, so when we are given the national responsibility it is no longer about ourselves, its more about the people, so I think we need to do a little more better and more for our people than we have done in the past. And I think in the past we got reluctant, complacent and people take those things for granted.

“I just hope that, we are learning from the experience of the last few years from our region that we will take governance a little more seriously than we have done before, the issue of corruption, transparency inclusiveness and all those things. People must feel being part of the governance, people should feel included”.

If you run a system of government where people feel they are excluded despite being citizens of that country and are tax payers but they may not necessarily be part of the structure or party you treat them as less citizens, those are some of the things that have caused problems for us over the years and I think it is important we visit our style of good governance, he emphasised.

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The Supreme Court has dismissed the Speaker of Parliament’s application to overturn the Court’s ruling that suspended his declaration of four parliamentary seats vacant.

Leader of the Members of Parliament from the New Patriotic Party in parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, earlier challenged the Speaker’s declaration at the Supreme Court, and the court duly ruled for stay of execution of the Speaker’s ruling.

But the legal team of the Speaker argued that the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction in this case.
During the hearing, the Supreme Court maintained its earlier ruling stating that the Speaker’s appeal was without merit.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court also rejected an objection by the counsel for the Speaker, Thaddeus Sory, against the empaneling of Justice Ernest Gaewu, who he noted was a parliamentary candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), stating that his involvement would bring about conflict of interest.

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