General News of Sunday, 13 March 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-03-13SC ruling: The major issues Bagbin raised with verdict, Akufo-Addo’s comment
Left - Right: CJ Anin-Yeboah, President Akufo-Addo and Speaker Bagbin
Supreme Court delivers ruling on voting rights of Deputy Speakers
Akufo-Addo celebrates the ruling
John Mahama, Bagbin describe ruling as absurd
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, on March 11, 2022 issued a statement reacting to the two other arms of government – the Judiciary (via the Supreme Court) and to the Executive (specifically President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo).
Bagbin’s statement was released
Read full article.via Parliament’s official Facebook page 48 hours after the Supreme Court handed down a landmark ruling on the voting rights of Deputy Speakers of Parliament.
It also came barely 24 hours after President Akufo-Addo had formally commented on the ruling that said Deputy Speakers could vote and form part of quorum for business in the House.
The ruling also struck out a portion of Parliament’s Standing Orders that barred Deputy Speakers from voting.
GhanaWeb looks at the major issues Bagbin addressed
Motivation to comment
The Speaker suggested that he would ordinarily had stayed off commenting on the issue but for Akufo-Addo’s comment where he specifically said Parliament was not above the law and should not act as such.
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“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 statement read.
Scathing opinion on the verdict
Among others, Bagbin used words like absurd, reckless, troubling to describe the verdict of the Justice Jones Dotse-led bench.
“The SC decision, is to say the least, not only an absurdity but a reckless incursion into the remit of Parliament. The trend of unanimity is equally troubling. It doesn't help explore and expand our legal jurisprudence,” the statement observed.
Direct salvo at Akufo-Addo on posture, ‘above the law’ accusation
The widely reported comments by Akufo-Addo suggesting that Parliament was seemingly positioning itself as above the law vis-à-vis members (mostly Minority) rejecting the ruling citing judicial overreach, got the largest chunk of Bagbin’s statement.
He posited that just as Parliament was not above the law and never suggested so, so were the Executive and Legislature not above the law.
“The President's comment is myopic and unfortunate. It only goes to worsen the schism between the Executive and Parliament.
“The impartiality of the Speaker, Deputy Speaker or Presiding Officer has been treasured and fought for by this country throughout our democratic development.
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.
“Please, I encourage the Plaintiff to go for a review,” the statement concluded.
What Akufo-Addo said
“All organs of the state including me [President Akufo-Addo], as the head of the executive, are subject to the constitution. There is no body or organ in the Ghanaian state that is above the laws of the land.
“To suggest that Parliament should operate without interference is to advocate for the very matter we have tried to avoid, the concentration of power. We have had that experience before and don’t want that,” the President said on Thursday, March 10, 2022.
Background
Following controversy over the rejection and later approval of the 2022 budget by one-sided Caucuses of the 8th Parliament, a private legal practitioner, Justice Abdulai, filed a case against at the Attorney General at the Supreme Court.
He prayed the Court to interpret two Articles - 102 and 104 - of the 1992 Constitution and by so doing to declare the proceedings in Parliament on November 30, 2021, which led to the passage of the 2022 Budget and Economic Policy as unconstitutional.
He specifically cited the fact that the Presiding Speaker, First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, had counted his vote despite acting as Speaker.
However, in defence of the State, the Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, argued that there was no express provision in the 1992 Constitution that stops a Deputy Speaker presiding over proceedings from voting or counting himself as part of MPs present to form the right quorum.
The Minority have expressly rejected the decision with Leader Haruna Iddrisu referring to it as repugnant to the provisions in Article 102 and 104.
“The Court’s ruling aptly captures the judicial support for the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy), for a struggling economy in destress,” he said.
“The Judiciary of Ghana is also failing Ghana’s parliamentary democracy in their inability to appreciate the true meaning of Article 110 of the 1992 Constitution that Parliament shall, by Standing Orders, regulate its own proceedings.”
Read the full ruling of the Supreme Court below:
