The Speaker of Parliament has declared the Parliamentary seat for Fomena vacant, following the
decision by the incumbent Member of Parliament, Andrew Amoako Asiamah, to contest the seat as an
independent candidate.
“In the circumstance, Parliament has determined that the conduct of the Honourable Andrew Amoako
Asiamah, amounts to vacating his seat in Parliament. Accordingly, we bring this to the notice of the
Electoral Commission for the necessary action to be taken in accordance with the law,” indicated the
Speaker.
The MP has refused to rescind his decision to go independent despite a plea from the President and an
appeal from the leadership of his party. He took the decision after he lost the NPP party primaries in
June 2020. The party leadership subsequently wrote to Parliament to declare the Fomena seat vacant
because it had annulled the membership of the MP in the party.
Presenting his ruling on the matter which was brought before him by the leadership of the New Patriotic
Party (NPP) on the Floor of Parliament after the MP shunned the party to file his nomination with the EC
as an Independent candidate, the Speaker, Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye said, the MP’s decision has
triggered his forfeiture of the seat in Parliament since he ceases to be a member of his party on whose
ticket, he was elected in the first place.
“The step taken to contest against his party, automatically triggers forfeiture of membership. Haven
forfeited the membership of the party, on whose ticket he was elected to Parliament, the operative
language of the Constitution is that, he shall, which is mandatory, vacate his seat from Parliament.
“Going by a purposive interpretation of the present law, constructive actions on the part of the MP are
important. For all intents and purposes, he is no longer a member of the party. He has pronounced
himself publicly as an independent and has filed his papers to compete against the party and its official
candidate as an independent on 7 th December 2020.”
The Speaker explained that it would be ridiculous for the incumbent MP to continue to occupy the seat
after the elections because the Constitution did not anticipate such a situation.
“On that occasion, this current Parliament would still be sitting and operating as an official Parliament of
the Republic of Ghana. We shall not have a situation adopted freely by any sitting MP where he or she
will be openly campaigning against the party that he or she still represents in Parliament and yet
ridiculously stands against the party. No purposive interpretation of law would allow such ridicule to
prevail.
“Furthermore, after 7 th December, 2020, when Parliament is still in session till 7 th January, 2021, how
does an MP operate as an elected independent MP and at the same time as an NPP MP if he should win
the elections. This lacuna of a ridiculous situation is not what is anticipated under the 1992
constitution.”
Source: Clement Akoloh||africanewsradio.com
