Akim Abuakwa South lawmaker, Samuel Atta Akyea has said the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin erred in his decision not to continue considering the ministerial nominees of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo until after the Supreme Court cases on the anti-gay bill have been heard.
Atta Akyea said there was no injunction restraining Parliament from considering the nominees of the president.
On Thursday, March 21, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, refuted claims that he has received an interlocutory injunction in the case brought forth by Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Etse K. Dafeamekpor.
Mr Dame clarified that he has not been served with any legal documents pertaining to such court proceedings.
Parliament on Wednesday, March 20 halted the vetting process for the nomination of Ministers and Deputy Ministers of State by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo following an interlocutory injunction filed at the Supreme Court by MP Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor.
In his closing remarks to the House before adjourning on Wednesday, Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin cited the lawsuit as the reason for the suspension of the vetting process, as it rendered Parliament unable to proceed with the nominations.
“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.”
However, in a letter addressed to the Speaker on Thursday, March 21, Mr. Dame disputed Bagbin’s assertion, stating that it was based on inaccuracies as no injunction had been filed.
“The plaintiff has not filed an application for interlocutory injunction seeking to restrain the Speaker from proceeding with the vetting and approval of the names of the persons submitted by His Excellency the President…”, or indeed, any other interlocutory relief.
“Thus, there is nothing before the Supreme Court which may constitute a restraint or fetter on Parliament from proceeding with the approval of ministerial and deputy ministerial nominees presented to Parliament by the President in accordance with articles 78(1) and 79(1) of the Constitution.”
Commenting on this matter, Mr Atta Akyea said “The speaker again does something which is very frightening. The speaker comes out to say that in equal measure as you are respecting the injunctive processes in the Supreme Court, I will also not attend to your nominees and aid you to have them passed for the simple reason that I also have an injunction at the instance of honourable Dafeamekpor pending before the Supreme Court. It turns out that that is not true. That is a very serious matter for the simple reason that at the level of intellectual evidence of the speaker, such fundamental errors cannot be committed.
“So I am of the humble view that when men of renown see palpable errors on their part they should buckle and probably say ‘I am sorry, I think I was misled’. So that the business of government will not come to an unfortunate halt because of an obvious error coming from the Speaker.”
“So, I believe that if I were Mr Speaker, I would eat humble pie and say that the foundation of my action is not valid. There is no injunction restraining Parliament from considering the nominees of the president. Because the Dafeamekpor case relates to a different matter altogether,” he told Citi FM.