The newly appointed Majority Leader, Ato Cassiel Hayford, has praised Speaker Alban Bagbin for formally announcing the vacancy of four parliamentary seats.
While addressing Parliament, he remarked, “you have done what is right, It is in the national interest. Permit me to congratulate the NDC. This is the beginning of the process to reset Ghana. Beginning the next sitting, we will take over. The new minority have just walked out; that does not stop us. Mr Speaker, we thank you very much.”
The MPs impacted by the ruling are Peter Yaw Kwakye Ackah, NDC MP for Amenfi Central, Andrew Amoakoh Asiamah, Independent MP for Fomena, Kojo Asante, NPP MP for Suhum, and Cynthia Morrison, NPP MP for Agona West.
In his decision, the Speaker explained that if Article 97(1)(g) of the 1992 Constitution were meant only for a future parliament, there would have been no reason for its inclusion, as the MPs in question would have already finished their term.
He further pointed out that the previous case, in which former Speaker Prof. Mike Oquaye removed the Fomena MP from Parliament after the NPP notified him of the MP’s decision to run as an independent, did not set a precedent for him or any other Speaker.4o