Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye, the NDC MP for Odododiodoo, has announced that the minority caucus will not return to Parliament until after the December elections.
This decision follows the majority caucus’s recent push for a recall of Parliament, prompted by the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Speaker Alban Bagbin’s declaration of four parliamentary seats as vacant.
On November 12, 2024, the Supreme Court sided with Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin, opposing Speaker Bagbin’s interpretation of Article 97(1)(g) of the Constitution, which he cited in declaring the seats vacant.
Afenyo-Markin argued that the Speaker bypassed judicial review and prevented potential by-elections in those constituencies.
The court had previously issued an injunction against Bagbin’s decision, which Bagbin had challenged, claiming parliamentary autonomy from judicial intervention.
Speaking with Channel One TV, Vanderpuye criticized the NPP caucus for what he described as “unnecessary taxpayer spending” and confirmed that the NDC minority would focus on election preparations, planning to resume parliamentary work only after the December elections.
“They should not waste the taxpayers’ money by asking us to come to Parliament in the next three weeks. We are not coming. We are concerned about elections, and we shall only come to Parliament after the elections. That should be at the back of their minds,” he said.
He further stressed “We want them to understand one fact that as far as we are concerned, issues about minority or majority are determined by the numbers in the house, so when we resume, the numbers will tell whether we are the majority, or they are the majority. This is not about the Supreme Court.
“…It is not for the NPP or the Supreme Court to define for us who are majority or minority in Ghana’s Parliament. We have our own procedures for determining who is a majority or who is a minority. When they were declared majority by Speaker Bagbin, did they go to the Supreme Court to seek that declaration?”
