Following the brouhaha over whether or not a Deputy Speaker of Parliament can vote whiles presiding, the Supreme Court of Ghana has today, Wednesday, March 9, 2022, ruled that a Deputy Speaker of Parliament, or any other member of the house presiding over business of the House, does not lose his or her right to vote while presiding.
Such a Speaker or Member can also be counted as part of the quorum for decision making in the House under Article 104(1) of the 1992 Constitution.
But the Member of Parliament representing the people of Bongo in the Upper East region is not convinced by the ruling of the court. He took to his Facebook wall and made the argument that “a Deputy Speaker makes a ruling on a motion on the basis of a voice vote and a Member challenges his ruling as allowed by the rules and calls for a headcount. The same Deputy Speaker whose ruling has been challenged gets off his high chair and comes down to vote to confirm his own ruling. This is what the Supreme Court is saying. This is sickness. I dey feel shy self,” the post read.
The Court, consequently, struck down Order 109 (3) of the Standing Orders of Parliament, describing it as “unconstitutional”.
The Order provides that a Deputy Speaker or any other member of Parliament presiding over the business of the House shall not retain his or her original vote while presiding.
Source:A1Radioonline.Com|101.1MHZ|David Azure|
