It is only the High Court that can declare Fomena Seat vacant – Prof. Kwaku Asare

Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, an accounting professor at the University of Florida, has said that the Speaker of Parliament’s decision in declaring the Fomena seat vacant is of no effect and that it is only the high court that can declare whether the Fomena seat is vacant or not.

According to Professor Kwaku Asare, the Speaker should have directed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to the high court rather than declaring the seat vacant.

Speaking in an interview with Citi FM on Monday, the professor said the NPP’s petition to the speaker to declare the Fomena seat vacant was not a step in the right direction.

According to him, what the NPP should have done was to send their petition to the high court instead. “If the NPP want the seat to be vacated, then they should have gone to the high court under article 591 and sort a declaration to that effect,” he stated.

He added that the people of Fomena voted the Fomena MP into power and that the NPP and the Speaker of Parliament have no right to disqualify the MP from his seat. He further explained that what the speaker did has no legal barking.

The accounting professor noted that the only instance an MP would be asked to vacate their seat according to the law is when the said MP has left his party and joined another party.

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WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FOMENA SEAT?

The former Member of Parliament for Fomena, Andrew Amoako Asiamah, lost in the party’s primaries held in June 2020. Unhappy with the turnout of the election, he filed as an independent candidate in the December polls.

On October 13th, 2020, the NPP wrote to the Speaker of Parliament to trigger the provisions of Article 97(1)g for the seat in the House to be declared vacant.

In response, the Speaker, on Saturday, November 7, 2020, ruled that the Fomena seat had become vacant in line with article 97 (1) of the 1992 Constitution.