The Member of Parliament for Adansi Asokwa, Kobina Tahir Hammond, has slammed the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, for declaring four seats in the House vacant.

Speaking to the media following the declaration of the Speaker on Thursday, October 17, 2024, the Adansi Asokwa legislator, who is widely known as K.T. Hammond, indicated that the Speaker took the laws of the country into his own hands because he did not have the power to declare the seats vacant.

According to him, only the court can declare the seats in question vacant because it has to do with the interpretation of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.

The MP, who is Ghana’s Minister of Trade and Industry, added that his side, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs, are of the view that the affected MPs should have been allowed to complete their terms.

“Straightforward in terms of the decisions or the ruling he has made, we think he's very wrong. He's fundamentally wrong. Yes, there are these provisions that he has alluded to, but as far as we are concerned, the import of those provisions is not what he has articulated today. These individuals have said that going into the next election - not this Parliament, going into the election in December and going to the next Parliament; 2025 parliament, they propose to be independent candidates.

“We think that it has absolutely nothing to do with their standing now as members of the current Parliament. We think it is wrong. We filed documents in the Supreme Court for interpretation,” he said.

He added, “The Speaker himself said that these are matters which call for interpretation. Somehow, he's taken the matter himself and he's ruled that those people have vacated their positions, thereby declaring us in the minority, straight away in the minority. So, I suspect he's going to ask them to move, move over, and then they take up government (sic). This is horrendous. It's atrocious. I haven't seen anything like this in my life. But then talking about my life, this particular Parliament has been something extraordinary,” he added.

Background:

The National Democratic Congress Members of Parliament, who until Thursday were the Minority Caucus of Ghana’s Parliament, are now the Majority Caucus.

The unprecedented move and change happened after the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, declared four seats in the House vacant.

It follows a move by the NDC MPs on the Speaker, based on Article 97 [1(g) & (h)] of the 1992 Constitution which states that “A member of Parliament shall vacate his seat in Parliament 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 if he was elected a member of Parliament as an independent candidate and joins a political party.”

Below are details of the MPs whose seats were declared vacant:

Peter Yaw Kwakye Ackah, MP for Amenfi Central
Party: National Democratic Congress
Entered parliament in: 2017 (Member of the 7th and 8th Parliament)

Andrew Amoako Asiamah, MP for Fomena
Party: Independent Candidate
Entered parliament in: 2017 (Member of the 7th and 8th Parliament)

Kojo Asante, MP for Suhum
Party: New Patriotic Party
Entered parliament in: 2021 (Member of the 8th Parliament)

Cynthia Mamle Morrison, MP for Agona West
Party: New Patriotic Party
Entered parliament in: 2017 (Member of the 7th and 8th Parliament)

BAI/AE

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