By Iddi Yire
Accra, Oct 14, GNA – The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Minority will be raising the issue of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), who are contesting the December 7 general election as independent candidates, when the House resumes on Tuesday, October 15.
Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, a former Minority Leader and NDC MP for Tamale South made the disclosure over the weekend at a rally in Tamale.
He indicated that the NDC would be seeking to invoke Article 97(1)(g) of the 1992 Constitution to compel sitting MPs contesting the December 7 general election as independent candidates to vacate their seats.
Three sitting MPs on party tickets (two NPP and one NDC) are contesting the December 7 polls as independent candidates, while the current independent MP for Fomena and Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Andrew Amoako Asiamah, is contesting on the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) ticket.
During the 2020 general election, when Mr Asiamah, who was then the NPP sitting MP for Fomena, filed to contest as an independent candidate, the then Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Ocquaye in his ruling declared the Fomena Parliamentary seat vacant after Mr. Asiamah filed to contest the 2020 parliamentary elections as an independent candidate.
The composition of the current Parliament is 137 for NDC Minority and 137 for the NPP plus one independent, which makes the NPP Majority Party in the House.
As the House resumes on Tuesday, October 15, current Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, would have to make a ruling on the fate of the four MPs, which would go a long way to determine which of the nation’s two political parties in Parliament would become the Majority or Minority.
GNA