Vacant seats saga: SC doing fantastic job but we must bring a sense of urgency to this matter – Ato Dadzie

Private legal practitioner Nana Ato Dadzie who was Chief of Staff under the Rawlings administration, has said he was hoping that the declaration of some seats vacant by Speaker Alban Bagbin would have been dealt with expeditiously.He noted that the Supreme Court had done a 'fantastic job' but some urgency should have been applied to this case.Speaking on the Agenda show on TV3 Monday November 11, he said "Time is of the essence in this matter.

Every single day that Ghana loses on this Judiciary-Parliament brouhaha, we are losing our opportunity for peace, we are losing our opportunity for a peaceful transfer of power and that is the danger we face."Asked by show host Beatrice Adu whether the Supreme Court was wasting his time, he answered "They are doing a fantastic job but we must all bring a sense of urgency to this matter " The Supreme Court will deliver its landmark judgement on the controversial declaration of four seats vacant by Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin today Tuesday November 12The court on Monday, November 11, 2024 postponed judgement to Tuesday after lawyers for Alban Bagbin were absent in court."… the judgement of this matter will be delivered tomorrow, November 12, 2024," Chief Justice Getrude Torkornoo said.The case has ignited debates within the political arena bringing about renewed calls for a review of Ghana's constitution and questions about the constitutional powers of the Speaker of Parliament.,The case filed by Alexander Afenyo-Markin, leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary caucus challenges Speaker Bagbin's declaration of these seats as vacant.On October 17, 2024, arguing that the MPs in question had violated constitutional requirements, Bagbin declared their seats vacant.

However, Afenyo-Markin filed an ex parte motion at the Supreme Court to revoke Bagbin's declaration.In response, Bagbin filed an application at the apex court through his lawyer, Thaddeus Sory.

The Speaker contends that the Supreme Court misapplied the law by putting on hold the execution of his ruling because it was a non-judicial decision.The Speaker in his reliefs prayed the court to strike out its stay of execution of his ruling on the declaration of the four seats vacant, among others.On Wednesday, October 30, the apex court directed the Speaker to file processes by November 11.