The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Odododiodioo, Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye, is unhappy with the decision of the Supreme Court on the vacant seat case.
To that end, he said most of his colleagues have decided not to respond to any call on them to return to the House.
The Supreme Court has by a 5-2 majority decision upheld the suit filed by Alexander Afenyo-Markin. The apex court said the full reasons will be made available tomorrow Wednesday, November 13.
The suit filed by Afenyo-Markin brought a stalemate in Parliament as the NDC members assumed the Majority position based on the Speaker’s ruling. This prompted the New Patriotic Party Members of Parliament to boycott proceedings of the House.
With the latest ruling by the Supreme Court, Parliament is expected to be recalled with the NDC MPs reverting to their original Minority status.
However, Nii Lante, who disagrees with the court, said on News 360 on TV3 on Tuesday, November 12, that “I do not care about the Supreme Court ruling that the declaration of four seats vacant by Speaker Alban Bagbin was unconstitutional.”
“It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court would give a verdict like this. When it is so obvious to every Ghanaian that this issue does not need interpretation. Any class 6 pupil can read this article and understand this. But they decided to give an interpretation.
Many Ghanaians will tell you they are not happy about the ruling. Coming on the heels of the Mo Ibrahim report, one would have thought that the Supreme Court would use this to restore some image to itself. But they further pushed their image and integrity into the barn, so I am not worried.
“If the Supreme Court says they have the authority to change the status quo in Parliament, then they should arrogate to themselves the power to order Parliament to sit tomorrow. No MP from our side will respond to any call to leave the field and come to the House. We are not robots to be pushed here and there,” Mr Vanderpuiye stated.
Asked if this is the position of the entire NDC MPs, he said “about 99% of our members on our platform have said that we will not respond to any recall of Parliament.”
Nii Lante noted however that, “we will respond to a call by the Speaker of Parliament, and we will evaluate that call, look at the timing and see whether it is convenient for us.”
It would be recalled that on October 17, 2024, arguing that the MPs in question had violated constitutional requirements, Bagbin declared their seats vacant. However, Afenyo-Markin filed an ex parte motion at the Supreme Court to revoke Bagbin’s declaration.