Akufo-Addo’s comment on Supreme Court ruling unfortunate and myopic – Bagbin

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin has described as unfortunate, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s reaction to the recent ruling by the Supreme Court on the voting rights of Deputy Speakers when presiding over the House.

The Apex Court on Wednesday, March 10, 2022, in a landmark ruling affirmed that a Deputy Speaker presiding over proceedings of Parliament maintains his voting rights, and can be counted in forming a quorum in the house.

The unanimous decision by the seven-member panel also annulled portions of Parliament’s Standing Orders declaring it as unconstitutional.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo reacting to the court’s ruling from Dubai where he led a Ghanaian delegation to the 2020 Dubai Expo, backed the stance of he court and disagreed with claims that the court interfered in Parliament’s work.

The president among other things noted that it cannot be said that Parliament is beyond the scrutiny of the Apex Court of the land.

But in a statement shared on the official Facebook page of Parliament, Speaker Bagbin who described the court’s ruling as an incursion into the remits of parliament, also defined the president’s position as being unfortunate and myopic.

“Good morning comrades. I have resisted the temptation of making a comment on the judgment of the Supreme Court on the issue of the voting rights of Deputy Speakers when presiding. But the unfortunate and myopic comment of the President has compelled me to let it out.

“The SC decision, is to say the least, not only an absurdity but a reckless incursion into the remit of Parliament.

While expressing worry about the unanimity in the court’s ruling, the Speaker further parried the President’s allusion to beliefs of Parliament being above the law.

“Mr President, the issue being discussed is not about Parliament being above the law. Everyone knows that Parliament is not above the law. The Executive and the Judiciary are equally not above the law. The issue being discussed is the political question doctrine. It took centuries to detail out the strands of this doctrine and the principles are settled as to when and how this closed book could be opened,”

The Speaker thus urged the Plaintiff in the suit which caused the Supreme Court to rule on the voting rights of the Deputy Speakers of Parliament to seek a review of the court’s ruling.

Meanwhile President Akufo-Addo in commenting on the ruling by the court had stated that: “I’m not sure people who are saying this have actually taken the time to read the Constitution of our country. It says so in black and white. The legislative powers of the State, which is vested in Parliament, are subject to the Constitution’s provisions.

“All organs of the Ghanaian State, including me as the Head of the Executive, we are all subject to the teachings of the Constitution,” the President said.

He continued, “There is nobody in the Ghanaian State that is above the fundamental law of the land. It will lead to the very matter that we have striven so long to avoid – the concentration of unregulated power in our state – we don’t want that. And we brought about this Constitution to allow that to not reoccur.”