Parliamentary candidates whose results were declared unlawful by the Supreme Court on Friday, December 27, 2024, will not be entitled to take the oath of office as Members of Parliament on January 6, 2025, according to Speaker of the House Alban Bagbin.

He maintained that the top court's ruling upheld the illegality of the so-called MPs-elect's declaration.

The Speaker further disclosed that he had discussed the issue with the clerk and that it was his responsibility as the House's gatekeeper to make sure the proper action was taken.

"The Supreme Court's ruling just upheld my stance before they ever issued their ruling. You must be declared by the electoral commission and elected by the electorate in order to serve as a member of parliament.

However, the speaker must administer the oath. You continue to be MP-elect until the speaker swears you in. I was therefore quite certain that some of those recollections and re-declarations were entirely empty.

They weren't legally recognized as MPs-elect, and as a result, they weren't eligible for my oath of office. This is my clerk. I told them, and we had those conversations. They were all taken aback. Yes, I replied. The gatekeeper is me. For Ghana to be reset, the proper action must be taken.

Context

The Okaikwei Central, Ablekuma North, Tema Central, and Techiman South constituencies' rerun results were declared invalid by the Supreme Court.


In its ruling, the court declared that the redeclaration and recollection were unlawful.

This came after the National Democratic Congress filed a lawsuit in court, requesting that the High Court's ruling ordering the EC to recall the results be overturned.

The NDC argued that the recollection process was illegal and without validity, thus they rejected the High Court's order. The party said that the court had overreached itself, jeopardizing the electoral process's credibility and transparency.