Speaker Bagbin: Annulled Parliamentary Candidates Won’t Be Sworn In on January 6

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has clarified that parliamentary candidates whose election results have been annulled by the Supreme Court will not be sworn in as Members of Parliament on January 6.

This follows a Supreme Court ruling that invalidated the re-collated results for the Okaikwei Central, Ablekuma North, Tema Central, and Techiman South constituencies. The Court cited significant irregularities and procedural errors in the electoral process as grounds for its decision.

The ruling stemmed from a legal challenge filed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) against a High Court verdict issued on December 20. The High Court had directed the Electoral Commission (EC) to re-collate parliamentary election results in nine contested constituencies. However, the NDC opposed the directive, arguing that the re-collation process was unlawful and lacked legal merit. The party maintained that the High Court had overstepped its jurisdiction, undermining the credibility and fairness of the electoral process.

Commenting on the Supreme Court’s decision, Speaker Bagbin explained the legal implications of the annulled results. He reaffirmed that individuals cannot be sworn in as Members of Parliament without meeting the constitutional requirements.

“The decision of the Supreme Court just followed the position I took before they even delivered their decision,” Bagbin stated. “To become a Member of Parliament, you have to be elected by the voter, and you have to be declared by the Electoral Commission. But you have to be sworn in by the Speaker. Until you are sworn in by the Speaker, you remain MP-elect.”

Bagbin further elaborated on his stance, emphasizing that certain re-collated and re-declared results were legally invalid. “I was very clear in my mind that some of those re-collation and re-declarations were completely null and void. They were unknown to the law and so they were not properly so-called MPs-elect and not qualified to be sworn in by me,” he remarked.

The Speaker also revealed that he had discussed the issue with his clerk before the Supreme Court’s ruling. “My clerk is here. We had those discussions when I told them. They were all surprised. I said, yes. I’m the gatekeeper. The right thing must be done for us to be able to reset Ghana,” Bagbin concluded.

Source: InsiderGH.com