I did not go to the Supreme Court in bad faith – Afenyo-Markin

The Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has justified his decision to seek the Supreme Court‘s intervention over Speaker Alban Bagbin’s declaration of four seats vacant.

The Effutu MP has said his move was to seek clarity and avert confusion, but not an act of bad faith.

Mr. Afenyo-Markin, at a press briefing on Thursday, emphasized his transparency in discussing the matter with the Speaker beforehand, noting that he foresaw possible discord arising from the ruling.

“I was fair enough and transparent to engage him [the Speaker] as the head of this assembly because Haruna had raised the issue, and to avoid confusion, I was going to the Supreme Court to seek interpretation.

“I did not go to the Supreme Court in bad faith, and it wasn’t the case that a matter was happening in Parliament and I ran away from Parliament to the Supreme Court to seek refuge. No. I foresaw confusion,” he explained.

This comes after the Speaker raised concerns over the growing habit of MPs seeking the Apex Court’s intervention on parliamentary issues.

At a media briefing on Wednesday, he said Parliament should defend its constitutional prerogatives and avoid becoming a rubber-stamp institution, subservient to the executive or judiciary.

But Mr. Afenyo-Markin has questioned the process leading to the Speaker’s ruling, arguing that Haruna Iddrisu, an opposition MP, initially acted under Order 99 of Parliament’s rules, which requires specific procedures.

However, the matter was shifted to Order 93, which he argued traditionally allows for statements, not rulings that escalate into motions.

“When in the history of this Parliament, since 1992, did a statement metamorphose into a motion which now will require a ruling?”

He urged the Speaker to adopt a more statesmanlike stance, adding that “the Speaker is setting the country on fire.”

“We want Mr. Speaker to know that although we were not happy on the day he was elected, some of our colleagues perhaps have seen something good in him.

“It wasn’t the NDC that put him there for him to do their bidding. Perhaps, people felt that he could be someone who would unite us all. Mr. Speaker is hurting democracy,” he added.