Supreme Court ruling unfortunate – Vanderpuye

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Odododiodioo, Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye, has the decision of the Supreme Court on the vacant seat case as unfortunate.

He expresses the view that many Ghanaians are unhappy with the ruling of the court.

The Supreme Court has by a 5-2 majority decision upheld the suit filed by Alexander Afenyo-Markin. The apex court said the full reasons will be made available tomorrow Wednesday, November 13.

The suit filed by Afenyo-Markin brought a stalemate in Parliament as the NDC members assumed the Majority position based on the Speaker’s ruling. This prompted the New Patriotic Party Members of Parliament to boycott proceedings of the House.

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

“If the Supreme Court says they have the authority to change the status quo in Parliament, then they should arrogate to themselves the power to order Parliament to sit tomorrow. No MP from our side will respond to any call to leave the field and come to the House. We are not robots to be pushed here and there,” Mr Vanderpuiye stated.

Asked if this is the position of the entire NDC MPs, he said “about 99% of our members on our platform have said that we will not respond to any recall of Parliament.”

Nii Lante noted however that, “we will respond to a call by the Speaker of Parliament, and we will evaluate that call, look at the timing and see whether it is convenient for us.”

It would be recalled that on October 17, 2024, arguing that the MPs in question had violated constitutional requirements, Bagbin declared their seats vacant. However, Afenyo-Markin filed an ex parte motion at the Supreme Court to revoke Bagbin’s declaration.