Bagbin returns documents after rejecting the Supreme Court’s writ on the vacant seat order.

Bagbin returns documents after rejecting the Supreme Court’s writ on the vacant seat order.

Citing constitutional immunity under Article 117 of the 1992 Constitution, Speaker of the House of Representatives Alban Bagbin has ordered the return of a batch of court documents that were served by bailiffs to the Parliamentary Service.

This action demonstrates Parliament’s position on judicial processes involving Members of Parliament (MPs) and was conveyed by an official letter from the Office of the Speaker.

“The attached processes which were left at the Legal Services Office of the Parliamentary Service by three bailiffs of the Court on Wednesday, 16th October 2024, are hereby returned,” the Speaker’s office wrote in a letter to the Supreme Court.

According to the statement, which was signed by the Speaker’s Office’s Deputy Clerk of Parliament Ebenezer Djietror, this service effort violated both a recent order from the Judicial Secretary and established constitutional provisions.

In the letter, Speaker Bagbin cited July 12, 2024, circular written by Judicial Secretary Justice Cyra Pamela C.A. Korangteng and titled “Enforcement of articles 117 and 118 of the Constitution – Immunity from Service of Process and Arrest.”

The letter’s conclusion stated, “The Rt. Hon. Speaker has directed the return of the attached processes for your necessary action,” and it recommended that the Judiciary take note of the constitutional limitations on serving parliamentary members with court records.

The Supreme Court upheld Speaker Alban Bagbin’s decision to declare four parliamentary seats vacant on October 18.

In effect, Parliament was told to acknowledge the four MPs and grant them the authority to completely represent their areas and perform their official functions.

This order will stay in force until the Supreme Court issues its final decision in the case, not for the ten days that the applicants had originally asked.

In order to prevent the implementation of the decision that would have impacted three of their colleagues and one from the NDC, NPP MPs filed an application to stay the Speaker’s decision.

Speaker Bagbin and Parliament were not included in the action because the application was filed ex parte.

This made it possible for the Court to take up the request from the NPP MPs without waiting for the Speaker or other parliamentary officials to respond or participate.

A group of Supreme Court justices led by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkonoo heard the case.

Amid the issue surrounding the unfilled seats, Alban Bagbin deferred his sitting in the House on October 22.
In a House full of members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who had previously held the majority, this decision was taken.

A dispute with the opposition, which had seized their seats after asserting that they made up the majority, had caused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) members of parliament to leave earlier.