Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has taken legal action at the Supreme Court to block the Minority’s bid to declare the seats of independent candidates vacant.
This follows former Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu’s announcement that his caucus is invoking Article 97 (1)(g) of the Constitution to vacate the seats of three Majority MPs and one Minority MP who have decided to contest as independent candidates.
Article 97 (1) (g) states that: A member of Parliament shall vacate his seat “if he leaves the party of which he was a member at the time of his election to Parliament to join another party or seeks to remain in Parliament as an independent member.”
Haruna Iddrisu has already written to the Speaker, urging him to declare the four parliamentary seats vacant. If the motion is upheld, the NDC would gain the majority in Parliament, shifting the balance of power as they currently hold 137 seats compared to the Majority’s 138.
Afenyo-Markin, citing the 2020 precedent where Andrew Amoako Asiamah’s seat was declared vacant after he ran as an independent, argues that the matter should be settled by the Supreme Court.
On the matter, Constitutional lawyer Justice Abdulai has noted that the constitutional provision on the issue is straightforward, leaving little room for legal interpretation, potentially posing a significant challenge for the affected MPs.
Cynthia Morrison, the sitting Member of Parliament for Agona West under the New Patriotic Party (NPP), is among the legislators who plan on contesting not on the ticket of any political party.
Presently, she has been barred from contesting as an independent candidate in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
The injunction follows allegations that Morrison does not reside in Agona West, the constituency she seeks to represent.
The case was filed by Emmanuel Addison, Solomon Nyarko, and Harrison A. Aglago, all members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Agona West constituency. They argue that Morrison, who lives in Agona East, is not eligible to contest in Agona West. The court’s order restrains her from presenting herself as a candidate until the matter is resolved.