Supreme Court issued a stay on Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin’s on Friday, October 18, 2024, ruling regarding the vacation of four parliamentary seats.
This decision came after Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo and the Supreme Court justices considered an application from Members of Parliament representing the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The court’s ruling stated, “Parliament has been directed to officially recognise the 4 MPs and allow them to represent their constituents.”
This ruling effectively halts the implementation of the Speaker’s earlier decision made on October 17, 2024, while the legal matter is further reviewed. As a result, the NPP remains the majority caucus, while the National Democratic Congress (NDC) retains its minority status.
The case was adjudicated by a panel of five justices from the Supreme Court.
See an overview of the justices who were responsible for the ruling.
- Gertrude Torkornoo
Gertrude Torkornoo was appointed as Chief Justice in April 2023, succeeding former Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, and officially took her oath of office in June 2023.
She also served on the seven-member panel that deliberated the 2020 election petition filed by John Mahama against the Electoral Commission of Ghana and Nana Akufo-Addo.
- Mariama Owusu
Mariama Owusu was sworn in as a Supreme Court judge in December 2019.
She was among the seven-member panel that heard the 2020 election petition by John Mahama against the Electoral Commission and Nana Akufo-Addo.
3. Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu
Adibu-Asiedu has been a judge since 1996 and became a Supreme Court judge in 2022.
4. Ernest Yao Gaewu
Yao Gaewu held the positions of constituency chairman and parliamentary candidate for the New Patriotic Party in both the Ho West and Ho Central constituencies.
He stepped away from the political arena upon his appointment as a High Court judge in September 2020.
In April 2023, he took his oath of office as a Supreme Court justice, making history as the first judge to be promoted directly from the High Court to the Supreme Court since 1980.
5. Yaw Darko Asare
Darko Asare was sworn into office by President Akufo-Addo on January 3, 2024.