The Supreme Court will today deliver a judgment on the true and proper interpretation of Article 97(1) (g) and (h), the constitutional provision that the Speaker of Parliament relied upon to declare four seats in Parliament vacant.
The provisions read as follows:
A member of Parliament shall vacate his seat in Parliament—(g) if he leaves the party of which he was a member at the time of his election to Parliament to join another party or seeks to remain in Parliament as an independent member; or
(h) if he was elected a member of Parliament as an independent candidate and joins a political party
A seven-member panel of the court, presided over by the Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, fixed the date for judgement on Monday after hearing arguments from the Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, and Joe Ghartey, lawyer for Alexander Afenyo-Markin , the plaintiff.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, who is the first defendant in the action has, however, chosen not to defend the action.
Mr Afenyo-Markin is seeking an interpretation from the court that Article 97(1) (g) and (h) only applies to a current term of Parliament, and therefore the the move by the Speaker to declare the seats of the four MPs vacant is unconstitutional.