A private legal practitioner and member of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Kwame Sanaa-Poku Jantuah, has said the Chief Justice, during the hearing of the application by the Speaker of Parliament exposed herself.
The Chief Justice, during the proceedings on Wednesday, October 30, 2024 said it was not right that Parliament would not be sitting following the Speaker’s adjournment of the House indefinitely.
According to Jantuah, such pronouncement was unwarranted since the Chief Justice does not determine what happens in the other arm of government, particularly the legislature where the Speaker is the leader and decides what happens.
Speaking on the BigIssue on TV3’s NewDay Friday, November 01, 2024, the private legal practitioner said the Supreme Court is known for adjudication of cases and interpretation of laws and not to determine how an arm of government is run since they all have the same powers as enshrined in the constitution.
He said Madam Torkornoo’s expression to the lawyer of the Speaker, Thaddeus Sory, during the hearing is very unfortunate.
“I respect the CJ a lot but I feel the CJ exposed herself. In her interaction with [Thaddeus] Sory, where she bleated out, ‘what is this country where Parliament isn’t even sitting’. You don’t express your opinion in that environment even if that’s what you think because Parliament is a law upon itself.
“So, you stayed the action [and] the Speaker also wanted to show you that me too I have power in my house, I’ve suspended the Parliament indefinitely. You cannot do anything about it. You cannot tell me to buck Parliament up because it is my power. I’m in my jurisdiction,” he expressed.
Madam Torkonoo’s comments came on the back of the Speaker’s application to the court praying it to overturn its verdict on a ruling by the Speaker which declared some four seats in Parliament vacant.
The Speaker, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, through his legal team, had argued that the apex court lacked jurisdiction to call for a stay of execution on a matter where it lacked jurisdiction.
But the application was dismissed, with the Supreme Court ruling that the matter presented by the lawyers of the Speaker lacked merit.
“We have considered the application, and we have come to the conclusion that the grounds supporting the application have no merit,” the Chief Justice stated.
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