In light of the recent chaos in Ghana’s Parliament, Kofi Adams, Member of Parliament (MP) for Buem Constituency and a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has sought to clarify misconceptions about a supposed constitutional crisis.
His comments were aimed at private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu, who had suggested that the ongoing parliamentary deadlock amounted to a constitutional crisis.
Speaking on TV3, Mr. Adams acknowledged the serious procedural issues within Parliament but insisted that they did not rise to the level of a constitutional crisis as Kpebu had claimed.
“There is no constitutional crisis; there is a parliamentary crisis,” Adams emphasized, attributing the current tension to a lack of action from the Supreme Court and what he perceived as interference from the executive branch. He supported Speaker Alban Bagbin’s view that, while the situation is challenging, it remains within Parliament’s procedural domain and does not violate the constitutional order.
Martin Kpebu, however, took a starkly different view. In his perspective, the fact that Parliament has not convened since October 22nd and has failed to conduct any business amounted to a constitutional crisis.
“Obviously there is a crisis because Parliament has not been sitting since October 22nd, and they have not been conducting business. That is a constitutional crisis,” Kpebu asserted.
He further suggested that the impasse persists because Deputy Majority Leader Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin has failed to secure the required numbers for parliamentary sessions, leaving the legislature in a state of paralysis.
Credit: adomonline.com