The Member of Parliament for the Yapei Kusawgu constituency, John Abdulai Jinapor, has expressed his disappointment with the Majority Leader’s decision to file an injunction at the Supreme Court to prevent the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, from declaring four parliamentary seats vacant.

According to him, the only explanation for Majority Leader Afenyo-Markin’s injunction at the Supreme Court is the fear of becoming the Minority Leader and his party being reduced to the Minority Caucus just months before the elections.

During a panel discussion on JoyNews on Thursday, October 17, 2024, John Jinapor said that the NPP had no issues when a similar incident benefited them, but they are now escalating the issue, reducing it to politics simply because it does not go in their favor.

“When the NPP benefited from it at that time, they were very happy; that’s the truth of the matter. Look, this whole thing boils down to the politics. When Speaker Mike Oquaye ruled that the Fomena MP had filed to contest as an independent candidate and hence couldn’t hold himself as an MP, the NPP MPs and members were very happy. At that time, there was no issue like it must come from a political party or a general secretary but espoused the tenets of Article 97. As far as I’m concerned, it has not changed,” he said.

John Jinapor added, "There's an NDC MP among the list and the only challenge now is that if Speaker Bagbin rules in consonance with what Mike Oquaye ruled, it means the Majority will turn to a Minority and that is the worry. If it was just one person and it did not affect the sitting arrangement in parliament, you wouldn’t see the brouhaha. Afenyo-Markin is likely to be a Minority Leader if this ruling is upheld and he is very worried because he doesn’t want to be a Minority Leader, that is why he is rushing to the Supreme Court to put an injunction on the Speaker. I find what he is doing very funny and unfortunate.”

Majority Leader Afenyo-Markin disclosed on Tuesday that he has applied for an injunction to stop the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, from declaring some four parliamentary seats vacant.

According to the Majority Leader, his decision to seek the court’s intervention is informed by a memo sent to the Speaker by the Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, who had earlier announced the intent of his caucus to invoke Article 97 (g) and demand that the seats of three New Patriotic Party MPs and that of an MP from the National Democratic Congress caucus be declared vacant.

MAG/AE

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