Hon Alex Afenyo-Markin, the Deputy Leader of the Majority Groupings in Ghana’s Parliament and Member of Parliament for the Effutu Constituency, has decried the NDC’s reckless posture in eroding Ghana’s enviable democratic credentials.
“Let me raise the NDC’s attention to the fact that if they continue to undermine democratic institutions, one day they will return to cross the bridge and find that there is no bridge to travel back home.”
On Tuesday, March 15th, 2022, Hon Markin made this announcement on Ghana Television’s breakfast show. Where did the Minority NDC Parliamentarians and their party communicators go after the Supreme Court gave its judgement allowing the deputy speakers of Parliament to exercise their franchise whilst presiding as Speaker?
He emphasized that the NDC was destroying everything needed to maintain decent administration, and that this is not how a democracy should be run; radical attacks cannot be the way to go; you must argue firmly when you lose, and graciously accept defeat, as the NPP did when it was in opposition. When we lost the Kojoga Adra vs AG case, we didn’t go out and assault the Supreme Court.
The story was headlined “Afenyo-Markin dismissed” in the Ghanaian Times on July 16, 2022, a move he described as a severe mockery of the minority while the majority NDC was jubilating and parading people from the public service to contest party positions because the Supreme Court had ruled that those categories of public servants were not prohibited under article 94 3b, he noted.
The Deputy Majority implied that the Supreme Court’s 29-page judgement addressed all three of the matters it was asked to decide. It cited a plethora of legal precedents to support its claims, including the issue of interference vs. sovereignty. From earlier republics, it chronicled the constitutional history of Parliament’s powers. Anyone who wishes to disagree with these must at the very least cite some law or offer a sound and defensible legal argument to support their position.
He wondered why a minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, would make a statement to the effect that the Supreme Court was attempting to support the passage of the electronic levy, given that the plaintiff in the case is a well-known NDC member and lawyer, and why the sudden display of arrogance, media assassination, and insults on the bench and the Supreme Court. For the Ndc, going to court and winning their case at all costs is obviously uncivil, not fair, he questioned?
He questioned the Ndc’s baseless argument that, while the constitution does not prohibit the deputy speaker from voting, their argument is based on parity of reasoning that Mr. Speaker is prohibited when presiding and that the deputies should be subjected to the same restrictions, despite the fact that the 1st and 2nd deputy Speakers are representatives of constituencies, whereas the Speaker of Parliament is not an MP.
In the controversial case of Mark Assibey Yeboah vs ECG, Dr. Assibey Yeboah, a former MP for New Juaben North, lost in Supreme Court to the NDC majority in 2015 in connection with serious flaws in the power purchasing agreement the NDC brought before Parliament, when the minority invoked article 181, but the supreme court said NO and ruled for the NDC majority when the ECG was undertaken on its own balance sheet and the
When we pointed them to Mark Asibey Yeboah’s case in the Supreme Court, they became enraged and hurled insults and attacks at the same court that had given them countless victories. This proves that Ndc MPs and members are not principled and honest, preferring to operate on the basis of convenience, and when they lose, they want to bring down the entire superstructure.
“If we are not willing to accept and respect the conclusions of our courts, then we have no business running to them; but once you run to them and they give their decisions, we should take it as a bitter pill or a sweet chocolate.” Take it if it’s bitter, and if it’s sweet if it’s sweet, because the same verdict could be an alternate for your course. He bemoaned the fact that the minority NDC Members of Parliament are gaining too much publicity.
The Ndc must learn to accept defeat gracefully; they must accept defeat when they lose, and they must respect our courts and the bench regardless of the result, not just when it is in their favor. “It is the only way for us in the political class to protect our hard-won democracy if we can uphold this rule,” he continued.
