Buem lawmaker Kofi Adams has said that the country witnessed a parliamentary crisis following the vacant seats controversy and not a constitutional crisis.
He argues that even if there was anything closer to a constitutional crisis, then it would be as a result of the action and inaction of the Supreme Court in how it handled the matter.
“There is no constitutional crisis, there is a parliamentary crisis not constitutional. If there is ever anything closer to crisis that will be linked to the constitution then it has become so because of the action and inaction of the SC aided by the executive arm. Speaker Bagbin is right that he doesn’t see any constitutional crisis,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 on Saturday, November 9.
He was reacting to a private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu who had insisted that there was a constitutional crisis following the vacant seats saga.
“Obviously there is a crisis because currently parliament has not been sitting since 22nd October, and they have not been conducting business. That is a constitutional crisis,” Kpebu also said on the Key Points on TV3 on Saturday, November 9.
“The crisis is over, the reason it appears to be lingering is because Afenyo-Markin couldn’t marshal his numbers in the house on Thursday to conduct business,” he added.
The Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has dismissed claims that there is currently a constitutional crisis in Ghana.
He added, “Democracy is about the rule of law, let the law work.”
His comment was in reaction to a statement by the Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo.
“We have a constitutional crisis. We are in a country where Parliament is not sitting. What’s going on?” She remarked.
On Wednesday, October 30, the Supreme Court dismissed the application by the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin to set aside its earlier ruling that stayed the execution of the Speaker’s declaration of four seats vacant.
“As the court pleases,” Bagbin’s lawyer, Thadeus Sory reacted.
It would be recalled that following an ex parte motion filed by Alexander Afenyo-Markin over the declaration of vacant seats by Bagbin, the apex court ordered for a stay of execution of the declaration.
In response, Bagbin filed an application at the apex court through his lawyer, Thaddeus Sory. The Speaker contends that the Supreme Court misapplied the law by putting on hold the execution of his ruling because it was a non-judicial decision.
The Speaker in his relief prayed the court to strike out its stay of execution of his ruling on the declaration of the four seats vacant, among others.
The Speaker is further seeking an order from the court to set aside the writ filed by the Leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) caucus, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, which sought to prevent the Speaker from making any ruling on the four seats.
According to the Speaker, the Supreme Court had powers to put on hold rulings of courts and not those of non-judicial bodies such as Parliament.
“In terms of orders staying of execution of rulings, the Supreme Court’s powers, under the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana and statute, to stay execution of rulings are limited to rulings of itself and of courts lower in the judicial hierarchy but do not extend to a ruling of the Speaker of Parliament who is not part of the judicial hierarchy,” the motion stated.
“With regard to the first defendant’s rulings in Parliament, a separate arm of Government, there fore, such rulings are not rulings within the judicial hierarchy so as to be the subject matter of ‘an application for stay of execution’ and a judicial order staying their execution,” it added.
