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The Member of Parliament for Effiduase-Asokore, Nana Ayew Afriyie, has said that it is shameful that the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, would react to the ruling of the Supreme Court based on his emotions.

He added that it is even more intriguing that, the Speaker of Parliament would seem to question the locus of the apex court to meddle in the ensuing confusion in parliament when the same court is there to settle disputes of such nature.

In a long post shared on his Facebook page, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP referred to other Commonwealth countries around the world and how in those countries, their Speakers of Parliament are still MPs.

“Mr. Speaker it is shameful for you to attack the president & judiciary based on emotions and without recourse to extensive research on parliamentary practices elsewhere. Ghana is a member of the CPA( Commonwealth Parliamentary Association). However, all over the commonwealth of which Ghana is a member, I came across a very interesting trend,” he wrote.

Nana Ayew Afriye added that what the Supreme Court had done with its ruling of Wednesday, March 9, 2022, was rather a blessing to parliament.

This, he said, is because, with this ruling, all the ambiguities of parliament have been settled.

“As a matter of fact, the Supreme Court in the wisdom of the very learned judges decided to rectify the ambiguity in the constitution by ruling for deputy speakers who are MPs(unlike the speaker) to vote. The speaker of Ghana's Parliament says it's absurd, reckless and that the president is myopic for speaking on it,” he added.

He, therefore, urged the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, not to insult the wisdom of the apex court.

“Mr Speaker, please don't insult and let's apply ourselves to the wisdom of common practice and precedence. If you were guided by Erskine May, then, probably you wouldn't have occasioned this needless write-up,” he wrote.

According to Erskine May, which is often referred to as the ‘Bible of parliamentary procedure,’ the foremost authority on parliamentary procedures and practices in the world, casting vote by a Speaker allows for debate to continue otherwise, a motion is stalled and parliament makes no headway.