Kwame Boafo Akuffo Blasts Supreme Court Over Vacant Seats Ruling: "They Were Wrong"

Legal expert Kwame Boafo Akuffo has raised concerns about the Supreme Court’s handling of the recent Application for Stay of Execution in the case of the Speaker Alban Bagbin declaring some four seat vacant in Parliament.

The lawyer described the Court’s approach as confusing and procedurally flawed. According to Akuffo, the Court has a duty to ensure consistency in the application of legal principles, a standard he believes the court failed to meet in this instance.

Akuffo singled out several critical issues with the Court’s decision regarding Alex Markin’s application. 

"The first problem is the nature of the application itself,” he explained. “A party cannot seek an Application for Stay of Execution in respect of a matter which is not a judgment or a court order.” In this case, the Speaker’s decision to declare the parliamentary seats vacant does not qualify as such an order, making the request for a stay legally baseless. “It is absurd to seek a Stay of Execution in a case in which the Court has not made any orders. There was no jurisdiction in the Court,” Akuffo added.

Akuffo also raised concerns about the Court’s assumption of jurisdiction in the face of Article 99 of the 1992 Constitution, which he believes was improperly applied. According to Akuffo, this case could only have come before the Supreme Court by way of reference from a High Court filing, raising further doubts about the legitimacy of the proceedings.

The Supreme Court's decision continues to cause widespread debate about the influence of the judiciary in political matters and the extent it goes.