The empty seats showing the absence of the Majority as Alban Bagbin, Speaker of Parliament, adjourns sitting indefinitely. Picture: ELVIS NII NOI DOWUONA

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Govt business to suffer with Parliament's indefinite adjournment

Nana Konadu Agyeman and Timothy Ngnenbe Oct - 23 - 2024 , 10:32

Government business in Parliament took a hit yesterday as Parliament adjourned indefinitely.

This followed the Speaker, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin’s, acknowledgement of the legal proceedings surrounding the composition of the House and the attendant public interest over the declaration of the seats of four Members of Parliament (MPs) vacant.

With the Supreme Court order appearing to restrain his hands on the matter that had evoked drama in the nation’s political space in the past week, the Speaker adjourned proceedings less than 15 minutes after he had assumed his chair in the chamber.

“In view of the current circumstances, the fact that there is a question on the composition and constitution of Parliament and having regard to the public interest and the exigencies of the state of affairs in Parliament, I will proceed to, in accordance with Standing Orders 59(1), adjourn the House indefinitely, i.e., sine die,” he said in the brief address to the members.

Government business

One item on the agenda for this sitting was the consideration of a facility of the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank for $250 million for the Ghana Financial Stability Project.

The House was also to consider the approval of two Supreme Court nominees, namely Justice Sophia Bernasko Essah and Professor Richard Frimpong Oppong, who had already been vetted by the Appointments Committee and were awaiting approval by the House.

There was also expected to be the consideration of a number of tax waivers for various Ghanaian-owned companies operating under the One-District, One-Factory policy, as well as important bills and instruments, some of which had already been laid in the House and were to become laws after 21 days.

Before adjourning sitting, the Speaker stated also that although the House could do business yesterday, it could not take decisions because members present were less than half of the composition of Parliament in spite of the fact that there were more than the one-third of the numbers required to form a quorum.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Caucus had left the chamber earlier when they met the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Caucus seated on the Majority side of the House.

Numbers game

The Speaker said the House had a quorum to transact business but did not have the numbers to take decisions in line with Article 102 of the Constitution and Order 64(1) of the Standing Orders of Parliament.

“Article 104 (1) states except as otherwise provided in the Constitution, matters in Parliament shall be determined by the votes of the majority members present and voting with at least half of all the members of Parliament present. Honourable members, we do not have at least half of all the members of Parliament present,” he said.

“Consequently, in view of the current circumstances, the fact that there is a question on the composition and the constitution of the Parliament and having regard to the public interest and exigencies of the state of affairs in Parliament, I will proceed to, in accordance with the Standing Orders 59, adjourn the House indefinitely sine die,” he added.

The Speaker cited Standing Order 59(1) which allowed him to suspend a meeting of the House in consultation with the leadership.

Order 59 (1) states: "The Speaker may, in consultation with leadership, suspend a meeting of the House indefinitely or for a period determined by the Speaker, having regard to public interest and the exigencies of the state of affairs in the country”.

“Honourable members, I have consulted leadership and I am exercising my discretion to decide to suspend the meeting of the House indefinitely,” the Speaker said.

Context

The Supreme Court granted a restraining order on the Speaker regarding the execution of his verdict in the matter of four MPs who have filed to contest the 2024 parliamentary elections on tickets different from what they represent in the current Parliament.

The four MPs are the Agona West Member of Parliament (MP), Cynthia Morrison of the New Patriotic Party (NPP); Amenfi Central MP, Peter Yaw Kwakye-Ackah of the National Democratic Congress (NDC); Suhum MP, Kwadwo Asante of the NPP, and Fomena MP, Andrew Asiamah Amoako, an independent MP.

Ms Morrison, Mr Kwakye-Ackah and Mr Asante have all filed as independent candidates in the December 7 polls, while Mr Amoako Asiamah has filed to contest as a candidate of the NPP.

It is on the basis of this that Mr Bagbin, seeking to enforce clauses (g) and (h) of Article 97(1) of the Constitution, declared that the four had vacated their seats by filing to contest the next polls on new tickets.

Article 97(1)(g) states that a member of Parliament shall vacate his seat in Parliament “if he leaves the party of which he was a member at the time of his election to Parliament to join another party or seeks to remain in Parliament as an independent member”, while Article 97(h) states that the member would forfeit his seat “if he was elected a Member of Parliament as an independent candidate and joins a political party”.

In response to the Speaker’s ruling, the Leader of the NPP side of Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, filed an ex parte application at the Supreme Court arguing that the Speaker’s action was premature and legally flawed.

Mr Afenyo-Markin insisted that the matter ought to be properly adjudicated by the courts before any such declaration could take effect. The court, after considering the application, agreed to halt the Speaker’s ruling for a period of 10 days, pending further hearings.

Drama

There were some dramatic moments as members of the NPP and NDC caucuses jostled for the occupation of the Majority side of the chamber.

The NDC MPs, who came in their numbers, succeeded in occupying the right side of the Speaker, leaving the few NPP MPs who had reported to the house seemingly stranded.

Earlier, some persons wearing NPP-branded shirts arrived at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC), where Parliament currently sits.

However, the heavy police presence moved them out of the area.

When the members of the NPP Caucus left the chamber around 10.20 a.m. ahead of the commencement of proceedings, they said it was to avoid confrontation with their colleagues on the opposite side and to allow their members to go back to their respective offices until the Speaker arrived to give the necessary direction.

Prior to exiting that chamber, legislators from both sides were seen engaged in friendly chats, either seated or standing at the Majority side of the House.

Looking up to Speaker

Addressing the press before leading his side of MPs to leave the chamber, the leader of the NPP Caucus, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, said they would remain in their offices until the Speaker arrived.

“If the Speaker arrives and calls the leadership and we do pre-sitting discussions, we would take it up from there, but for now we would not share with our colleagues that lawless theatre because our country Ghana is bigger than any individual.

“We expect our NDC colleagues to do the needful to keep the peace in the chamber, but it is for the Speaker to make the final determination. The nation is looking up to the Speaker, and with all his years in politics, this is a crucial moment for him to add weight to what we have done to preserve the peace,” Mr Afenyo-Markin said.

NPP is peaceful

Mr Afenyo-Markin said the NPP stood for peace and would not allow anybody to disturb the peace of the country.

“It is a notorious fact that we remain the majority caucus of this Parliament,” he said.

He cited last Sunday’s news conference in which the Leader of the NDC, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, claimed that they disagreed with the Supreme Court’s decision to halt the Speaker’s ruling on the four members of the House.

He said Dr Forson then expressed the intention of his caucus to occupy the Majority caucus seats once proceedings commenced yesterday.

“Our tradition is a law-abiding tradition; our forebears always used the court to correct the wrong.

“Since 1992, our leaders have always used civil advocacy and the courts to ensure that we get the peace that we have today,” he said.

“We will not give them that theatre that they so aggressively seek to disrupt democracy and to destroy our nation,” he added.

Trigger recall

The NPP caucus later stated that it would trigger a recall of the House.

The Leader of Government Business, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, told the Daily Graphic that the caucus would trigger Article 112 (3) of the Constitution to recall the House to consider some unfinished government businesses.

“Mr Speaker is not Parliament, and I think things are getting out of hand; Mr Speaker was wrong in adjourning the House sine die, and we are going to trigger a recall,” he said.

Article 112 (3) states that “Fifteen per cent of the total members of Parliament may request a meeting of Parliament, and the Speaker shall, within seven days after receipt of the memo, summon Parliament to reconvene”.

Per the permutations, the NPP caucus will need about 42 members to sign the petition to trigger the recall process.

In an exclusive interview in his office yesterday, Mr Afenyo-Markin said: “What Mr Speaker is doing is clearly to frustrate government business, and he is doing the bidding of the NDC”.

He pointed out that during a pre-sitting meeting in Parliament yesterday, the Speaker only informed the leadership that he was going to announce to the House the ruling of the Supreme Court, which had been served on the House.

He said Mr Bagbin also told them that he would then adjourn the House and consult.

Speaker got it wrong

Interrogating the refusal of the Speaker to read the ruling of the Supreme Court to the House, Mr Afenyo-Markin said the Speaker got it wrong when he adjourned the House indefinitely.

“Yesterday, all that leaked from the NDC platform which suggested that they have engaged the Speaker who is going to adjourn sine die is exactly what he has done.

“So, it is obvious that he, together with the NDC, want to frustrate Ghanaians, and we are not going to allow that. We will use the law to call him (Speaker) to do the right thing,” he said.