Parliament’s Legal Department receives Supreme Court order freezing Speaker’s ruling on 4 MPs

The Legal Department of Parliament has officially received a Supreme Court order freezing Speaker Alban Bagbin’s recent decision to declare four parliamentary seats vacant.

JoyNews can confirm that the Legal Department of Parliament received the order today, October 21.

The order, which has sparked considerable political controversy, temporarily halts the Speaker’s move to remove the MPs from Parliament pending further legal review.

The application to stay the Speaker’s decision was filed by New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament, who sought the Court’s intervention to halt the enforcement of the ruling that would have affected three of their colleagues and one from the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The application was filed ex parte, meaning that neither Speaker Bagbin nor Parliament was joined to the case.

The legislators affected by the ruling were NDC’s Peter Yaw Kwakye Ackah of Amenfi Central constituency in the Western Region, Andrew Amoakoh Asiamah of Fomena in the Ashanti Region, Kojo Asante, NPP MP for Suhum in the Eastern Region, and NPP’s Cynthia Morrison of Agona West constituency

However, the Speaker’s decision faced immediate backlash, prompting legal challenges that culminated in the Supreme Court issuing a stay of execution on the ruling.

This legal twist intensifies the ongoing tensions between the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), both of whom claim a majority in the nearly ended 8th Parliament.

The stay on the Speaker’s ruling is expected to influence how Parliament reconvenes for its next sitting on October 22, 2024, with the status of the four MPs now legally protected.