Parliament Sitting Commences with NDC Occupying Majority Side

Parliament's much-anticipated sitting on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, has begun with the NDC occupying the majority side of the House. This is after the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin unilaterally declared four parliamentary seats vacant, to give the opposition side numerical superiority. Although the Supreme Court subsequently granted a stay of execution of the order, the NDC has gone ahead to constitute the new majority in Parliament.

The Speaker's decision was based on Article 97(1)(g) of the 1992 Constitution, which provides that if a member of Parliament crosses the floor or stands as an independent candidate while holding the office, his seat shall be declared vacant. In this case, four MPs had filed to contest as independent candidates with one independent going on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party, a reason the Speaker had ruled that their seats were now vacant. The NPP, therefore, had been reduced to 135 seats while the NDC with 136 seats claimed to be the majority.

However, just a day later, the Supreme Court intervened to stay that ruling by the Speaker and allowed those MPs to remain at post until a final determination was made. But even with that legal development, the NDC has placed itself on the majority side of the chamber, indicating its readiness to follow through on Speaker Bagbin's declaration.

This has heightened tension in Parliament, as the NPP argues that the Speaker has no locus to alter the parliamentary configuration when a case is pending before the court. The acrimonious debate on the Speaker's ruling and the Supreme Court's stay order underlines growing constitutional and political difficulties for Parliament with Ghana heading toward general elections in 2024.

As the session unfolds, eyes are to be on the Speaker, MPs, and the judiciary to make a move in this never-experienced position.