Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has called on Speaker Alban Bagbin and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to accept the Supreme Court\u2019s recent ruling, which declared the Speaker\u2019s decision to vacate four parliamentary seats unconstitutional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Supreme Court\u2019s 5-2 majority decision upheld the principle of democratic governance, according to Mr. Afenyo-Markin, who addressed the press following the ruling. He stressed the importance of respecting the rule of law and the democratic framework established in 1992.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a moment for all of us to rally around the choice we made in 1992\u2014democracy. Democracy requires decency, and that\u2019s the path the NPP majority caucus took to uphold the law,\u201d he said. \u201cWe expect our colleagues on the other side [NDC], including Mr. Speaker, to respect this outcome so that we can move forward as a nation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Efutu MP further emphasized Ghana\u2019s democratic reputation in Africa, saying, \u201cAll we have is the peace of the country. All we have is our democracy. In West Africa and across Africa, Ghana shines as a beacon of democratic values.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He lauded the Court\u2019s ruling as a significant step in Ghana\u2019s democratic journey, urging all parties to honor it. Mr. Afenyo-Markin dismissed the notion of partisan rivalry, underscoring that the decision was purely a matter of constitutional interpretation rather than an NPP versus NDC conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On October 17, Speaker Bagbin had declared four parliamentary seats vacant\u2014three held by NPP MPs and one by an NDC MP\u2014shifting Parliament\u2019s power balance. This move gave the NDC a claimed majority, with 136 seats against the NPP\u2019s 135, and the opposition quickly asserted itself as the new majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the Supreme Court issued a stay on Speaker Bagbin\u2019s decision the following day, October 18, allowing the four MPs to retain their seats until a final judgment was reached. Despite this order, the NDC caucus maintained its newly claimed majority status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After hearing from all parties involved, the Supreme Court ultimately ruled that Speaker Bagbin\u2019s declaration was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has called on Speaker Alban Bagbin and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to accept the Supreme Court\u2019s recent ruling, which declared the Speaker\u2019s decision to vacate four parliamentary seats unconstitutional. The Supreme Court\u2019s 5-2 majority decision upheld the principle of democratic governance, according to Mr. Afenyo-Markin, who addressed the press […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,20],"tags":[254,370,351,352],"class_list":["post-1192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-national","tag-afenyo-markins","tag-alban-bagbin","tag-supreme-court","tag-vacant-seats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/winsmediagh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/winsmediagh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/winsmediagh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winsmediagh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winsmediagh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/winsmediagh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1194,"href":"https:\/\/winsmediagh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192\/revisions\/1194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winsmediagh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/winsmediagh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winsmediagh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winsmediagh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}