Member of Parliament (MP) for Bole-Bamboi, Yusif Sulemana, has said that the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has been fair to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) legislators in the wake of the seats controversy in the House.
His comments come amid a contentious legal battle surrounding Speaker Bagbin’s declaration of four parliamentary seats as vacant.
The ruling, which has sparked intense political debate, was initially enforced by Speaker Bagbin after stating that certain MPs had violated constitutional requirements.
However, the Supreme Court intervened, staying the execution of this ruling.
After Monday’s hearing, Mr Afenyo-Markin claimed that the Speaker was deliberately treating NPP MPs unfairly in relation to the matter.
But, the NDC MP for Bole-Bamboi, Yusif Sulemana, disagrees with Mr Afenyo-Markin, stating that the Speaker has done nothing wrong.
“I rather think that the Speaker has been very, very fair to them, and some of us believe that the Speaker is treating them with kid gloves,” he said.
He added, “The way he [the Speaker] is tolerating them; the way he is relating with them, to some extent we feel that he even bends the rules in order to accommodate them. So, I do not think that the Speaker is maltreating them.”
Although the Supreme Court was expected to deliver a verdict on the case on Monday, Justice Gertrude Torkornoo adjourned the case to Tuesday, November 12.
Again, Mr Bagbin’s counsel had not filed their legal processes as ordered by the court from the previous sitting.
The ongoing legal case was brought before the court by Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary caucus who is seeking an interpretation from the court that Article 97(1) (g) and (h) only applies to a current term of Parliament, and therefore the move by the Speaker to declare the seats of the four MPs vacant is unconstitutional.
Article 97(1)(g) of the Constitution states: “A member of Parliament shall vacate his seat 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.”
Speaker of Parliament, Mr Bagbin, declared the seats vacant based on this provision.