The Former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini, has intimated that the decision by the Supreme Court to allow Deputy Speakers vote and be counted is not settling parliamentary matters.
Inusah Fuseini described the move as one that is rather interfering in parliamentary affairs as earlier suggested by some lawmakers.
The former MP revealed that although there are powers of the Supreme Court over Parliament, the standing orders of Parliament are of a different category because it determines how the business of Parliament should be conducted. He stated that the standing orders are not subject to interpretation in any law court.
According to the former lawmaker, until the pronouncement by the Supreme Court, there was no issue in abiding by parliamentary laws and rules. As such, he indicated that Supreme Court has no jurisdiction whether real or imagined to determine how Parliamentary business must be conducted.
Inusah Fuseini posited that he was surprised it has taken the President who was a Member of Parliament all that while to know that the provisions in the constitution and in the standing orders of Parliament are unconstitutional and “it had to take the Supreme [court] to make a pronouncement for the President to discover his courage of conviction”.
“Because as a lawyer and former Member of Parliament, we work on the standing orders of the constitution and I would have expected that if the President had come to the conclusion as at the time he was in Parliament that, order 109(3) and Article 102 and 104 were inconsistent, matters of that nature would have been raised.”
Inusah Fuseini
S.C and Parliament, different co-equals
Inusah Fuseini disclosed that the Supreme Court and Parliament are two different co-equal parts of government just like the Executive and must be regarded as such.
“I have heard the President say that in the enforcement of the constitution, the Supreme Court and the courts have to ensure that Parliament does what is consistent with the constitution. It is true but that is true to the extent of the outcome of the activities of Parliament .”
Inusah Fuseini
Inusah Fuseini’s comments followed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s assertion that the decision by the Supreme Court on the voting rights of Deputy Speakers cannot amount to judicial interference in the work of Parliament.
The President intimated that to suggest that Parliament is beyond the scrutiny of the Supreme Court is to imply that Parliament is a law unto itself.
“I’m not sure people who are saying this have actually taken the time to read the constitution of our country. It says so in black and white. The legislative power of the state, which is vested in Parliament, is subject to the provisions of the constitution. All organs of the Ghanaian state – including me as the head of the executive – we are all subject to the teachings of the constitution.”
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
The President averred that he was happy with the unanimity of the Supreme Court’s decision, especially as it is the most emphatic way in which the court can make a pronouncement.
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