Legislature vs Judiciary: Appreciating Article 97 of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution

Good day, folks. I have decided to write down my thoughts about this whole confusion or disagreements or misunderstanding between us and the NDC at the moment.

I think the source of the misunderstanding is from our appreciation of Article 97 of Ghana’s Constitution which relates to a Member of Parliament switching status from a political party representative in the House of Parliament to another political party or independent status or vice versa.

The text of the Article which to me and in MY OPINION, Speaker Bagbin has grossly misapplied states as follows:

“A Member of Parliament shall vacate his seat in Parliament ……….if he leaves the party 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 or …. If he was ELECTED a Member of Parlaiment as an independent candidate and joins a political party”.

I can see that it is Speaker Bagbin’s failure to appreciate the following elements of Article 97 which has led to the kind of ruling he delivered:
1. time and timing relating to being elected to the House
2. the unavoidable processes leading to a Prospective Candidate becoming a Parliamentary Candidate and finally coming into the House as a Member of the House (Parliament)
3. ?Political Party Memberships and its administration by political parties themselves
4. ?the SOURCE OF POWER for a Member to be in the House of Parliament as independent member or on the ticket of a political party – VOTERS in the Constituency
5. ?Fairness as it relates to the NEED for every Constituency to be represented in the house at all times with the exception of timing becoming a constraint for bye-elections. The Constitution deals with this unfairness adequately.

On the issue of time and timing, the constitutional provision above impliedly sets two time frames – the time period leading up to a Parliamentary Candidate becoming a Member of Parliament and another period from the date s(he) becomes a Member to the end of his or her term.

If Article 97 had directly or explicitly stated that an MP has the right to switch political or independent status subject to that Member going back to the VOTERS of his or her constituency to “approve or disapprove” of such decision through elections conducted by EC. And when a Member exercises his right to switch, it will be a matter of the member’s political party to also exercise its right to withdraw his membership or otherwise as dictated by the party’s own constitution.

In short, what I think has not been highlighted in all discussion that have ensued in the public space is whether an MP in Parliament already cannot remain in the party/status that brought him into the House and at the same time go back to his or her electorates and ask them to vote to approve his or her decision to represent them in the House again on the ticket of another party. Clearly, our Constitution accommodates this but has not been expressly stated.

To appreciate the thoughts I’ve espoused here would also mean averting one’s mind to the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Hon Zenator Rawlings case which clarified the strength of a political party constitution relative to Ghana’s Constitution.

My favourite question I seek an answer to in any final determination will be to establish whether a Speaker of the House of Parliamentary has the right to extend his Authority over the House to administer, for example, a political party’s constitution to determine who remains a member of that party or otherwise.

To this extent, I will not be surprised to see a final determination restricting the Speaker’s Authority to a Members Conduct in the House unless an external Authority expressly informs the Speaker. This may come with exceptions but will largely espouse this principle of restricted Authority, else a Speaker becomes every Authority out there too.

In this context, can you imagine a Speaker claiming to have a right to enforce a political party’s rules on expulsion of a member of the party? I can’t think far on this. I need help.

I don’t have time to write further explanations to clarify my thoughts. Above but all in all, I strongly believe that a final determination of this matter will partly or largely espouse these principles above.

Hon Joseph Cudjoe
MP for Effia Constituency
Minister for Public Enterprises
#Men@Work

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