Stop Bastardizing Supreme Court; Go For Review If . . . - Nana Ofori Owusu

Nana Ofori Owusu, PPP National Chairman, has cautioned against the bastardization of the Supreme Court following its ruling on the right of Deputy Speakers in Parliament to cast their votes in the House.

The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, March 9, 2022 gave a verdict on the case saying a "Deputy Speaker is entitled to be counted as a Member of Parliament for quorum" and should be allowed to "vote and take part in the decision of Parliament".

This ruling has however been met with contention from the Minority members of Parliament and members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) who, to them, the verdict is nothing but a travesty of justice.

Former President John Dramani Mahama, passing a comment on the ruling, dreaded the Supreme Court has set a "dangerous precedent of judicial interference in Parliamentary procedure for the future".

NDC Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Sam George also tweeted; "The sham called Justice delivery in our Republic. Despicable!''

The President of the Republic, Nana Akufo-Addo, on his part, agreed with the court saying ''The legislative power of Parliament [that is vested] that is 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 Executive, we are all subject to the teachings of the constitution. There is nobody in the Ghanaian State that is above the fundamental law of the land''.

He cautioned that any defiance to the verdict will ''lead to the very matter that we have striven so long to avoid; the concentration [of power] of unregulated power in our State. We don't want that. We've had that experience before and we brought about this constitution in order not to allow that to reoccur'' and expressed shock over what he believes is over-concentration on this subject matter, saying ''I'm astonished about how much public energy has been wasted, I say so with the greatest of respect, been wasted in an area on an issue where there is so much clarity and I'm happy that the court''.

Addressing the matter during a panel discussion on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'', Nana Ofori Owusu asked the critics to respect the court.

"The outcomes of the courts, we all have to live with it. Expressing our opinions too is our right that maybe we don't agree with the ruling but if you don't agree with it, we cannot bastardize the institution," he said.

To him, this ruling is ''going to have a serious effect on the entire governance structure of this nation. So, we need to start thinking through it, start looking at the ramifications, start preparing ourselves in our we're going to conduct business of governance [from] henceforth from the parliamentary level all the way to the Assembly and how we will work to move forward".

He charged any person objecting to the ruling to should seek a review but not make utterances to soil the image of the Judiciary.