Communication Team Member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Nana Owusu Banahene has advised the Supreme Court of Ghana against interfering in the business of Parliament.
According to him, the Supreme Court must understand that Parliament since time immemorial has decided its standing orders and “that is not going to change now.”
In a panel discussion on the Epa Hoa Daben political talk show with Happy98.9FM’s Don Kwabena Prah, he said, “The Speaker on his return must come and tell the judiciary that they (Parliament) set their own standing orders and not the Supreme Court. He should make them understand we are not going to take what they say.”
Nana Owusu Banahene noted that the Supreme Court must be made to understand how the law works and how things are done. “The ruling has changed nothing and Parliament will keep operating as it has.”
In a unanimous decision Wednesday [March 9, 2022], a seven-member panel of the apex court held that upon a true and proper interpretation of Article 103 and 104 of the 1992 Constitution, a Deputy Speaker who happens to be a member of Parliament does not lose his right to take part in decision making in Parliament, reports Graphic Online’s Emmanuel Ebo Hawkson who was in the courtroom.
In view of the decision, the apex court held that the passing of the budget on November 30, 2021 in which Mr Joe Osei Owusu , the first Deputy Speaker counted himself as part of the quorum, was valid.
Also, the court has struck down order 109(3) of the standing orders of Parliament which prevented a deputy speaker presiding from voting, as unconstitutional.
The court gave the decision today after it dismissed a writ by a law lecturer, Justice Abdulai, who was challenging the decision of Mr Owusu to be counted as part of the quorum to pass the budget.
The unanimous decision was given by Justices Jones Dotse, Nene Amegather, Prof Ashie Kotey, Mariama Owusu, Lovelace Johnson, Clemence Honyenuga and Yonny Kulendi.
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