There is no constitutional crisis; Parliament is working – Bagbin – My XYZ online

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin has dismissed claims that Ghana is facing a constitutional crisis following the adjournment of the House.

Addressing the media Wednesday afternoon in Parliament he assured that Parliament has not been dissolved, suspended, nor terminated despite recent adjournments due to lack of quorum.

“There is no constitutional crises in this country, I repeat there is no constitutional crises in this country. Parliament is alive and working. Let nobody mislead, misinform or disinform you in this country,” he stated.

Background

Speaker Bagbin’s address comes amidst the controversy of which side of the House is now the Majority, pending a Supreme Court interpretation on Article 97 on when a seat can be declared vacant

The Speaker recently declared four seats vacant on the grounds that, the affected Members of Parliament had crossed carpet, by filing to contest the December 7, 2024 parliamentary elections in different capacities, either as independent or on the ticket of political parties, a development, which is different from the status on which they are currently in the House.

The Speaker subsequently concluded that the MPs in question have crossed carpets and went ahead to declare their seats vacant.

That ruling by the Speaker has since been challenged at the Supreme Court and it is still pending.

Currtently, there is confusion in the House as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) side is claiming that per the Speaker’s ruling, they now have majority seats with 136 seats while the New Patriotic Party (NPP) side is now Minority with 135 seats.

The NPP side however disagrees with that position, explaining that per a Supreme Court directive following the application for interpretation of the Article 97, the Speaker’s ruling is on hold and therefore they are still the Majority in Parliament.

At the last sitting of the House, the NPP side walked out and rendered Parliament disabled to have the numbers to take decisions even though they had the numbers to start business with only members from the NDC side present.

Following that the Speaker adjourned sitting indefinitely but following a call by members, he has recalled the House to reconvene on Thursday, November 7.