A senior lecturer in public law at the University of Ghana, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, has raised critical concerns following the Supreme Court’s recent 5-2 ruling overturning the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin’s, decision to declare four parliamentary seats vacant.
According to him, the Supreme Court’s ruling on Article 97 lacked enforceable directives, which he described as a significant error.
His comments come on the back of the ruling by the Supreme Court on November 12 on Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin’s decision to declare four parliamentary seats vacant, following these MPs’ decision to contest the 2024 general elections under different affiliations.
The MPs affected include Cynthia Mamle Morrison (Agona West), Kwadwo Asante (Suhum), and Peter Kwakye-Ackah (Amenfi Central), who opted to run as independent candidates, while Andrew Asiamah (Fomena) decided to contest on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Speaking on The Big Issues on Channel One TV on Saturday, November 16, 2024, Dr Srem-Sai argued that the Supreme Court appeared to overstep its jurisdiction by focusing solely on interpreting Article 97 of the Constitution without issuing any enforceable orders or directives.
“If you read all the cases that have passed, there is nowhere the SC will just give a declaration and then go to sleep. That is because Act 2(2), says that the SC shall, based on the declaration made, make orders and directions.
“So, the SC doesn’t have the jurisdiction to just give an opinion on what the meaning of the law is and then leave it there, that is the first error you can see from this decision by the SC. The judgement just said this is the meaning of Article 97 and gave no orders,” he stated.
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