The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, has indicated that the house will not be able to continue the consideration processes of the ministers recently nominated by President Akufo-Addo.
The Executive Secretary to the President, Nana Asante Bediatuo, earlier this week, on behalf of the President, wrote to the clerk of parliament directing parliament to desist from transmitting the recently passed Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill 2021 to the presidency for assent, citing ongoing injunctions on the bill.
But the Speaker of Parliament has described the posture by the presidency as one that undermines mutual respect for the arms of government.
“The behavior exhibited by the Presidency in refusing to accept the transmission of this bill not only deviates from established democratic practices but also undermines the spirit of cooperative governance and mutual respect for the arms of government,” he told parliamentarians in the house.
Alban Bagbin has further described as contemptuous Nana Asante Bediatuo’s letter on the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill to parliament, adding that although the house will work with existing legal frameworks, parliament, in the same light, will be unable to approve nominated ministers as the house had been notified of an injunction application by South Dayi MP, Rockson Nelson Defeamekpor.
“The Parliament of Ghana will comply with the existing legal framework and reject the attempts by the Executive Secretary of the President, through his contemptuous letter, to instruct the Clerk to Parliament, an Officer of Parliament whose position is recognizably under the Constitution. We shall not cease and desist!” he assured.
“Be that as it may, Hon Members, I also bring to your attention the receipt of a process from the Courts titled Rockson-Nelson Etse K. Dafeamekpor vrs. The Speaker of Parliament and the Attorney-General (Suit no. J1/12/2024), which process was served on the 19th of March 2024, and an injunction motion on notice seeking to restrain the Speaker from proceeding with the vetting and approval of the names of the persons submitted by His Excellency the President until the provisions of the constitution are satisfied… In the light of this process, the House is unable to continue to consider the nominations of His Excellency the President in the “spirit of upholding the rule of law” until after the determination of the application for interlocutory injunction by the Supreme Court,” he finally declared.
