Ghana’s current hung parliament after the 2020 general elections is a clear reflection of the dissatisfaction of Ghanaians regarding how badly this Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led regime subjected them to from 2017 till date.

The split 8th Parliament consisting of 137 MPs each with a lone Independent MP, Hon. Andrew Asiamah Amoako from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) stock who decided to do business with them to constitute Majority Caucus in parliament makes this Parliament highly sensitive and overly partisan. This resulted in the dramatic selection of the current Speaker, Rt. Hon. Alban. S. K. Bagbin from the NDC in January, 6/7 of 2021.

Before the lone Independent MP, Hon. Asiamah joined the 8th Parliament in January 2021, the NPP Majority Caucus used Article 9 (1) of their Party Constitution and wrote to the former Speaker, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye to declare the Fomena Seat vacant before the 2020 general elections took place.

Accordingly, former Speaker Oquaye from the NPP declared the seat of the honorable Member in question vacant to give way for by-election in the Fomena Constituency. The comfortable NPP Majority Caucus then saw no problem with the ruling of Speaker Oquaye although it was a bad precedence set.

When the same provisions of Article 97 1(g) and (h) were invoked by the NDC Caucus in October 2024 after 4 MPs either going Independent or rejoining a Political Party (NPP), the current Rt. Hon. Speaker Bagbin delivered a reasoned ruling for vacating the 4 Seats on 17. October 2024. This therefore meant that the slimmest Majority NPP Caucus automatically became the Minority side while the NDC Caucus interestingly became the Majority in Parliament.

Before Rt. Hon. Speaker delivered his reasoned ruling on the statement of the
National Democratic Congress (NDC) Caucus regarding the 4 affected Seats on 17. October 2024, the NPP’s Caucus led by Hon. Afenyo-Markins said that he filed an interlocutory injunction application at the Supreme Court (SC) to stay Speaker’s declaration.

The Parliamentary proceedings regarding the 4 vacated Seats by Speaker Bagbin and associated agitation by the NPP Caucus with a Walkout on 17. October 2024 showed that they are an unprincipled Caucus and/or Party. When former Speaker Oquaye’s ruling favored the NPP then, there was no issue at all but when the current Speaker ruled similarly, which bordered on the violation of Article 97 of the Constitution, the same NPP Caucus took a very parochial and unprincipled position against Speaker Bagbin and calling him all kinds of names publicly.
Unacceptable to say the least!

Knowing that the Torkornoo-led SC was predictable and would consider his interlocutory injunction application favorably, Afenyo-Markins set a ‘political trap’ for her bench to fall in. The move of CJ Torkornoo to empanel a 5-member bench within an amazing speed to stay Speaker Bagbin’s ruling to vacate the 4 affected Seats is a clear political trap set by the NPP Caucus for the SC to fall in, leading to the ‘Parliamentary tsunami’ we have witnessed so far.

The predictability and selectivity of the current Torkornoo-led judicial system in favor of the ruling NPP is thus confirmed by the lightning speed of the SC to stay Speaker’s ruling beyond 10 days for the interlocutory injunction application as well as giving Judgment of the 5-2 Majority decision in favor of the Applicant (NPP MP).

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation indicated that the impartiality of Ghana’s Judicial system has dropped by 30% in 2024, and Hon. Ken Dapaah also expressed his concerns about the Judicial system being predictable in favor of the NPP, which is potentially dangerous. These are very genuine observations made about Ghana’s Judiciary under this current Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led regime.

is a worrying new development in terms of the backlash between Parliament and the Apex Court of the country, which is hugely dangerous and potentially creating a constitutional crisis. The Apex Court should have considered the Political Question doctrine in the first place by not acting predictably or meddling in politically tainted issues with alacrity and rather exercising caution.

In fact, the current CJ Torkornoo has been baited by the NPP Caucus and she has fallen into a political trap. The condemnation of the Majority decision by the SC in this case against Parliament is seen by the public to be understandable. The separation of powers in the Arms of the government has been captured in the 1992 Constitution for very good reason and should be maintained always.

The NPP Caucus (with no majority numbers in Parliament) should respect our 32-year democracy and Ghanaians for once but not playing victim here as if Rt. Hon. Speaker and the NDC Majority Caucus are sabotaging government business.