Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has declared four parliamentary seats vacant.
This follows the legislators’ decision to cross the carpet ahead of the upcoming December 7 elections.
The affected MPs are Peter Kwakyi Ackah of Amenfi Central, Cynthia Morrison of Agona West, Kwadjo Asante of Suhum, and Andrew Asiamah of Fomena.
While Peter Kwakyi Ackah, Cynthia Morrison, and Kwadjo Asante are contesting as independent candidates, Andrew Asiamah, who was in the House as an independent MP, is contesting the seat on the ticket of the NPP.
This comes after Tamale South MP, Haruna Iddrisu, petitioned the Speaker of Parliament to declare vacant the seats of three Majority MPs and one Minority MP due to their decision to run as independent candidates in the December 7 polls.
This, he said, was in line with Article 97(1)(g) of the Constitution, which states that an MP shall vacate their seat if they leave the party they were elected under or seek to remain in Parliament as an independent candidate.
READ ALSO: Election 2024: NDC files injunction to halt EC from printing Amenfi Central ballots
Delivering a verdict on Thursday, October 17, 2024, the Speaker said that by announcing their intent to switch political allegiances, these MPs have effectively forfeited their party affiliations, thus vacating their seats in Parliament.
“Honourable members, it is important to point out that the speaker is called upon by the standing orders of parliament, particularly order 18, to inform the house of the occurrence of a vacancy of the seat of a member under clauses (1) b to e, g, and h of Article 97 of the constitution. Accordingly, I will proceed to inform the house that by the notification of the polls, the following MPs have by their actions vacated their seats in parliament,” he declared.
It will be recalled that in 2019, Andrew Asiamah of Fomena suffered the same fate when he decided to contest as an independent parliamentary candidate while he was in parliament on the ticket of the NPP.
With only 51 days to the election, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has lost its majority status in parliament to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The ruling implies that the NDC has 136 seats while the NPP now has 135.
