Deputy Speaker can vote and form quorum for decision making – Supreme Court rules

The Supreme Court has ruled that Deputy Speakers of Parliament can take part in a vote while presiding over proceedings in the House.

According to the apex court, a deputy Speaker is entitled to be counted as a Member of Parliament for purposes of quorum.

The suit filed by a lawyer cum law lecturer, Justice Abdulai, invited the Supreme Court to pronounce as unconstitutional, First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei Owusu’s action of counting himself for the purposes of quorum during the controversial decision to overturn the 2022 budget which had earlier been rejected and thrown out by the Minority side.

Justice Abdulai in his writ argued that in the context of articles 102 and 104 of the 1992 Constitution, the Deputy Speaker was not permitted to count himself for the purposes of quorum, since he had neither an original nor a casting vote as Speaker presiding.

But the Supreme Court has dismissed that application and ruled that any Deputy Speaker of Parliament can participate in voting while in the Chair.

The panel was presided over by Justice Jones Dotse