Parliament sitting at the Dome at the International Conference Centre
Members of Ghana Parliament return to their makeshift floor at the Dome of the International Conference Centre for Thursday, October 17, 2024, sitting.
The main issue the House is expected to tackle is the issue of which party forms the Majority Caucus, and which forms the Minority Caucus, following a petition by the Member of Parliament for Tamale South for the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, to declare four seats vacant.
National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs, who now form the Minority Caucus, have indicated that they should form the Majority Caucus after two New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs filed nominations to contest in the 2024 parliamentary election as independent candidates and an independent MP filed his nomination to contest in the election on the ticket of the NPP.
The NDC MPs argue that these seats should be declared vacant, citing Article 97 [1(g) & (h)] of the 1992 Constitution, which states that “a member of Parliament shall vacate his seat in Parliament if he leaves the party of which he was a member at the time of his election to Parliament to join another party or seeks to remain in Parliament as an independent member; or if he was elected a member of Parliament as an independent candidate and joins a political party.”
Speaker Bagbin is expected to deliver his judgement on the matter at Thursday’s sitting, having asked for two days to look into the petition and issues raised on it by both sides of the House.
Watch a livestream of the sitting below:
BAI/AE