NPP to trigger Speaker to recall Parliament - Afenyo-Markin

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Caucus in Parliament is to trigger the Speaker of Parliament to recall the House, the leader of the side, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has told Graphic Online.

Mr Afenyo-Markin on Tuesday morning led his side for a walkout following a disagreement over sitting arrangement.

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When Parliament reconvened on Tuesday, the Speaker, Alban S.K. Bagbin adjourned sitting indefinitely following lack of the numbers to take decisions even though the House had the numbers to start business.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban S.K. Bagbin informing the House said even though they have the numbers to transact business, the House did not have the numbers to take decisions.

This followed a walkout by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) side following a disagreement about sitting arrangements as to which side was to occupy the Majority and Minority sides of the House.

The disagreement over the sitting arrangement followed a ruling by the Speaker last Thursday, that declared four seats vacant on the grounds of crossing carpet following the affected Members of Parliament's decision to file for the December 7, 2024 parliamentary elections in different capacities, either as independent candidates or on the ticket of a political party.

Following that, the NPP side, led by their leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin filed an ex parte motion at the Supreme Court, asking that the ruling of the Speaker should be halted.

The Supreme Court after hearing the plaintiff, directed the Speaker to halt implementing the ruling until the final determination of the matter.

But the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament insisted that per the Speakers ruling, the numbers in the House have now tilted in their favour with 136 seats while that of the NPP is 135 and therefore, per their understanding, the NDC side were now the Majority in Parliament.

While the NPP side argued per the Supreme Court directive, the status quo has not changed, the NDC side insisted otherwise.

The NPP therefore decided to walkout when all members from both sides decided to occupy the side of the Speaker, normally reserved for the Majority side.

more to follow...