Afenyo Markin moves to Supreme Court to restrain Speaker from declaring independent seats vacant

The Majority Leader and Member of Parliament for Effutu Constituency, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has taken legal action at the Supreme Court, challenging the Speaker of Parliament and the Attorney General.

His application seeks to prevent the Speaker from making a ruling on a motion submitted by the Minority in Parliament to declare some seats vacant.

First, the minority group specifically requested that the Speaker declare the seat of Andrew Asiamah Amoako, the Second Deputy Speaker, and MP for the Fomena constituency, vacant for deciding to contest the 2024 parliamentary election at Fomena under the sponsorship of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), despite currently being in Parliament as an independent MP who run the 2020 election as an independent candidate.

Additionally, the minority is calling for the Speaker to declare the seat of Cynthia Mamle Morrison, MP for Agona West, vacant owing to her decision to run as an independent candidate in the upcoming 2024 elections, despite currently being an NPP representative.

Also, their petition ropes in Kwadjo Asante, MP for Suhum, who is also seeking to run as an independent candidate in the upcoming elections and similarly seeks a declaration of his seat as vacant.

However, the Majority Leader argues that Andrew Asiamah Amoako’s nomination to run under the NPP for the next parliamentary term does not automatically vacate his current seat as an independent MP for the 8th Parliament.

He also seeks a declaration that Cynthia Morrison’s decision to run as an independent candidate for the next parliamentary term does not result in her vacating her current seat as an NPP MP.

He thus per this suit seeking an injunction to prevent the Speaker from declaring these seats vacant or taking any steps to enforce the relevant provisions of the Constitution regarding MPs who change their political affiliations during their term in office.

Source: Graphic online