Member of Parliament for Bawku Central Mahama Ayariga has defended Speaker Alban Bagbin’s recent decision to adjourn Parliament after a recall was triggered by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) caucus, emphasizing constitutional principles that support the Speaker’s authority in such matters.
Ayariga’s support stems from a legal debate on the separation of powers and the jurisdiction of courts in determining parliamentary seat vacancies.
In an interview with Citi FM on Friday, November 8, Ayariga argued that the Supreme Court lacks the authority to rule on decisions by the Speaker regarding parliamentary seat validity.
He maintained that Bagbin acted within his powers and did not defy any legal rulings when he adjourned the session.
Citing the Constitution, Ayariga highlighted that issues related to the vacancy of parliamentary seats fall under the jurisdiction of the High Court, not the Supreme Court.
He argued that the Supreme Court’s intervention in this matter overstepped its bounds, disregarding the judicial separation of powers outlined in Ghana’s legal framework.
Ayariga emphasized that the Constitution delineates which court should handle specific types of cases, stating that seat vacancy disputes are to be resolved by the High Court.
This, he noted, reaffirms the independence of parliamentary procedures from certain judicial interventions, particularly from the Supreme Court.
“We expect the Supreme Court to pay attention to the language of the constitution and be committed to the word itself. We are not saying that there should be no judiciary review and so all these elaborate quotations affirm the principle of judiciary review. We all accept that there should be a judiciary review but which court has jurisdiction over which matter?
“And our argument is that this is a clear question of whether or not a seat has become vacant and the constitution is also clear that in any matter as to whether a seat has become vacant or not, it is the High Court that has jurisdiction and the Supreme Court ignored that. And so looking at what happened yesterday [Thursday, November 7], I did not see any instance of Speaker Alban Bagbin going contrary to the decision of any court.”
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