Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has asserted that the reason why parliament isn’t respected is because some MPs run to the courts at the slightest opportunity to have issues of parliamentary affairs addressed.
He declared that the situation undermines the authority of parliament, especially when it has the constitutional mandate to address these issues.
Speaker Bagbin said this when he addressed journalists at a press conference on Wednesday, November 6, 2024, calling on lawmakers to demonstrate greater loyalty to Parliament and limit appeals to external judicial intervention.
He was responding to the decision by Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin’s injunction application at the apex court in response to the Minority’s petition for the Speaker to declare the seats of some candidates vacant.
“Most worrying is that these proceedings are initiated by some members of parliament, even leaders of parliament, who ought to know better,” he stated.
“Parliamentarians who are to be loyal to Parliament rather than to the Supreme Court run to the Supreme Court at the slightest opportunity to use the Supreme Court to undermine Parliament,” he said.
“This might be one of the reasons Parliament and members of Parliament are not respected and are treated with disdain.”
Meanwhile, he has shot down a suggestion by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo that Ghana was experiencing a constitutional crisis.
Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo recently voiced concern about Parliament’s inactive status due to unresolved disputes, and Mr. Bagbin’s remarks follow her remarks.
She slammed the lawyer for the Speaker, Thaddeus Sory, for not submitting documents on time in a court case concerning a vacant parliamentary seat, which she described as a “constitutional crisis.”
But Speaker Bagbin refuted the claims, saying, “There is no constitutional crisis in this country. I repeat, there is no constitutional crisis in this country. Parliament is alive and working. Let nobody mislead, misinform, or disinform you in this country”.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
