New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament have reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to upholding the constitution and serving the best interests of the Ghanaian people.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In response to the Speaker\u2019s Thursday ruling, which declared four MPs’ seats vacant just 50 days before Election 2024, the NPP stated,<\/p>\n
we will not stand idly by as the foundations of our democracy are undermined<\/em><\/p>\n
We have unwavering faith in the wisdom of the Supreme Court and the resilience of our democratic institutions to correct and<\/em>
\ndefeat this grave misstep, reaffirming the principles that have guided our nation since the inception of the Fourth Republic<\/em><\/p>\n
We fully recognize that this decision will, to some extent, negatively affect the prosecution of the legislative agenda of the government of His Excellency President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the remainder of his tenure. However, we firmly believe this is a necessary price to pay in mounting a formidable defense of our Constitution and safeguarding the will of the people of Ghana. The preservation of our democratic principles and the integrity of our constitutional order must take precedence over short-term legislative goals<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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In his ruling on Thursday evening, October 17, following a petition submitted by the Minority last Tuesday, Speaker of Parliament Alban S.K. Bagbin declared that four MPs had vacated their seats due to their decision to contest the December 7, 2024 parliamentary election in different capacities, either as independent candidates or under a different political party.<\/p>\n
The four MPs are Cynthia Mamle Morrison (Agona West) and Kwadjo Asante (Suhum), both from the NPP, who have filed to run as independent candidates, and Peter Kwakye-Ackah (Amenfi Central) from the NDC, who is also contesting the next election as an independent candidate.<\/p>\n
Additionally, Andrew Amoako Asiamah, MP for Fomena and the Second Deputy Speaker, who was elected as an independent candidate, has chosen to run in the next election under the NPP’s ticket.<\/p>\n
The Speaker\u2019s ruling now shifts the parliamentary majority to the NDC, which holds 136 seats, while the NPP now has 135 seats.<\/p>\n
Article 97 states the grounds on which an MP may vacate the seat: \u201c1) A member of Parliament shall vacate his seat in Parliament\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201c(g) if he leaves the party of which he was a member at the time of his election to Parliament to join another party or seeks to remain in Parliament as an independent member; or<\/p>\n
\u201c(h) if he was elected a member of Parliament as an independent candidate and joins a political party.<\/p>\n
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It is important to note that, under the Standing Orders of Parliament, specifically Order 18, the Speaker is required to notify the House of a vacancy in a Member’s seat in accordance with Clause (1) (b) to (e), (g), and (h) of Article 97 of the Constitution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Accordingly, I proceed to inform the House that by the notification of the polls [by the Electoral Commission for Election 2024] the following Members of Parliament have by their actions vacated their seats in Parliament<\/em><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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Meanwhile, the NPP side in Parliament has filed a lawsuit at the Supreme Court, seeking an interpretation of Article 97 in relation to the Speaker\u2019s recent ruling. The NPP has stated that they will not return to the House until the Supreme Court makes a decision on the matter.<\/p>\n
Following the ruling, NPP leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, challenged the Speaker\u2019s decision and subsequently led a walkout of all NPP members.<\/p>\n
Parliament has been adjourned until Tuesday, October 22.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament have reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to upholding the constitution and serving the best interests of the Ghanaian people. In response to the Speaker\u2019s Thursday ruling, which declared four MPs’ seats vacant just 50 days before Election 2024, the NPP stated, we will not stand idly by as the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":18743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[349,223,224],"tags":[347,230,439,240],"class_list":["post-18742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-election-24-news","category-news","category-top-news","tag-2024-elections","tag-bawumia24","tag-dr-mahamudu-bawumia","tag-it-is-possible-with-bawumia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empoweringghana.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empoweringghana.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empoweringghana.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringghana.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringghana.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringghana.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18744,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringghana.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18742\/revisions\/18744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringghana.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empoweringghana.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringghana.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringghana.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}