The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, on Wednesday, 20th March 2024 suspended the approval of Ministers and Deputy Ministers of State following an injunction filed at the Supreme Court by the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Etse K. Dafeamekpor.
This decision comes on the back of a letter from the Presidency directing Parliament not to transmit the Bill on Human Sexual Rights and Family Values for President Akufo-Addo’s assent.
According to the letter addressed to Parliament on Monday, March 18, and signed by the Secretary to the President, Nana Asante Bediatuo, the request follows two pending applications for an order of interlocutory injunction currently before the Supreme Court.
This statement has received a lot of criticism from different stakeholders.
We shall not cease and desist
The Speaker of Parliament speaking to the letter said it “undermines the spirit of cooperative governance and mutual respect for the arms of government.”
He said the “ongoing scenario poses a grave threat to our legislative authority and, by extension, the democratic principles we strive to uphold. The implications of such executive actions extend far beyond the immediate legislative items at hand. They erode the foundational checks and balances that our forebearers painstakingly established to ensure a vibrant and functioning democracy…
“The Parliament of Ghana will comply with the existing legal framework and reject the attempts by the Executive Secretary of the President, through his contemptuous letter, to instruct the Clerk to Parliament, an Officer of Parliament whose position is recognizably under the Constitution. We shall not cease and desist! he added
Minority Presser
The Minority in Parliament has described the presidency’s directive to refrain from transmitting the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values (Anti-LGBTQ+) Bill for assent as a breach of the 1992 constitution.
Backing the decision of the Speaker at a press conference, the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson said “Ladies and gentlemen, I wish to conclude by saying that, the Right Honourable Speaker has made an important call. A call for Parliament to unite against the autocratic tendencies of our President and this government.
“We, in the NDC minority, are ready to protect the sanctity of the constitution of the Republic of Ghana. And we stand with the Speaker of Parliament in this. Let the President of Ghana and his government be aware that where this country is going is strange under his watch and the NDC Minority will not countenance it,” he said.
Source: peacefmonline.com
