Minority challenges Speaker of Parliament

The NDC Minority Leader in Parliament, Hon Alban Bagbin, has challenged the authority of the Speaker of Parliament, the Rt Hon Peter Ala Adjetey, the immediate past National Chairman of the NPP, to write to the Electoral Commission to declare a vacant parliamentary seat in the Wulensi Constituency.
In a letter dated 30 January 2003 to the Rt Hon Speaker and copied to the Chairman of the Electoral Commission and the Attorney General, the Minority Leader complained that even though he was aware of the Supreme Court’s ruling denying jurisdiction in the appeal brought against the Court of Appeal’s ruling disqualifying the sitting NDC MP, Hon Samuel Nyimakan had filed an application for a review against the ruling of the Supreme Court.
In his view, therefore, there is no such vacancy in the Wulensi Constituency in view of the fact that there is a review pending at the Supreme Court. Bagbin further argued that neither Nyimakan nor Parliament as a body was even aware of the Speaker’s communication to the Electoral Commission and the existence of a vacancy in the Wulensi Constituency.
The Minority Leader called on the Speaker to clear the air on the matter and the Electoral Commission informed accordingly. It will be recalled that based on the Speaker’s letter complained about, the Electoral Commission has fixed 20 February 2003, as the date for the conduct of a by-election in the Wulensi Constituency.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Palaver has learnt that the Supreme Court has fixed 18 February 2003 as the date for the hearing and determination of Hon Nyimakan’s petition for review.
It will further be recalled that when the government lost the case on the constitutionality of the Fast Track High Court brought by Tsatsu Tsikata, the Attorney General, Nana Akufo-Addo, addressed a Press Conference of which he announced that he was going to file for a review, the status quo prevailed- meaning that the filing of the review application operated as a stay of execution.