General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress(NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia says the judges of the Supreme Court are abusing their power of interpretation to re-write the constitution.

He believes that the work and activities of parliament are written in black and white in the constitution and therefore can not be given a different interpretation.

Speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, he explained that it is explicitly clear in the constitution that a quorum does not include any person presiding.

"Article 102 states clearly how parliament should go about its duties and therefore you cannot import any law to interpret what the constitution says. The Supreme Court has clearly stated that you cannot through any form of interpretation, decide to re-write the constitution. So it sounds very awkward for some judges to attempt to rewrite the constitution through an interpretation," he stated.

He further added that it will be equally difficult to even cite anyone for contempt should they go against the ruling of the Supreme Court because the same constitution states that parliament shall be master of its own procedure and that no court can decide from no where impose a procedure on parliament.

"At this moment there is nothing we can do because it has become a law but if this should continue then they are gradually stripping parliament of its power. The various organs of state must at this moment be conscious and know that their powers are not absolute so they do not overstep their boundaries," Mr Asiedu Nketiah cautioned.

Background

The Supreme Court presided over by Justice Jones Dotse, unanimously ruled that a Deputy Speaker can be counted during the formation of a quorum for parliamentary decision-making and participate in voting while presiding over the parliamentary business.

The landmark judgement was given on Wednesday after private legal practitioner, Justice Abdulai, filed a case against the Attorney General to contest the First Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei-Owusu’s decision to count himself during a vote to approve the 2022 budget.