Ghana’s Judiciary has a notorious history: It can deliver unprofitable justice simply by ignoring speed when it is of utmost essence.

The Supreme Court rebuked President Akufo-Addo as having erred over his sacking of Daniel Domelevo as Auditor-General, but the decision came long after the man had been home and reached his mandatory retirement age.

My good old friend George Isaac Amo’s 1996 long drawn battle to be called Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency MP tingles my mind also. It took four years, hopping from one court to the other before the matter was decided, and only after the parliament he should have been part of had finished it’s term in full.

What was all that inaction for?

There are many more such examples but let us just pray this Alban Bagbin ‘Mathematical Anomaly’ does not add to the list of delayed justice.

According to Speaker Alban S.K. Bagbin, a certain foul behaviour of some MPs has yielded the following mathematical situation.
(NPP) 138 – 3 = 135
(NDC) 137 – 1 = 136

The marking scheme has always been known- the numbers determine which side of the Speaker a group in leadership must sit, however, the whole nation awaits whether the scripts should be marked at all, as suggested by Efutu MP Alexander Afenyo-Markin.

Our "parliamentary paradox," is leaving us with unexpected results and is raising more questions than it answers, especially after the Supreme Court stepped in to muddy the waters.

NPP's shrinking majority: Ordinarily, the ruling NPP has 138 members and been the Majority in this parliament, but after subtracting 3 members (let’s say due to defections), Bagbin says they are left with 135. However, in the strange world of parliamentary math, losing members doesn't seem to affect their perceived dominance—at least, they’re still trying to claim majority by attitude, not arithmetic.

Can it be that by subtracting members, they mysteriously increase in strength, as in the only math where "less is more" —until it's time for a vote?

I have heard, rather sadly, comments like why won’t the NPP or NDC let go since we have just a couple of weeks to elections. There is a lot to lose or gain from this quagmire. Maybe such people have not heard the NDC promise to abolish E-Levy and do other things if they have the chance, or rather the Majority.

When the dust settles, NPP (135) and NDC (136) creates a puzzling reality, with the smallest difference of 1 now representing the greatest crisis of leadership. But in the confusing world of parliamentary politics and math, neither party is sure who’s winning, so the Supreme Court cannot play ostrich. It must play ball and point us all to the reality.

Can both sides continue to insist they are the true majority where both are right and wrong at the same time? We narrowly escaped parliamentary violence last Tuesday only because the NPP members chose to stay away. But there is Government Business to be done and they definitely must return. Will the Supreme Court bail us out? I think the court should, and salvage this case from suffering the “abeyance in perpetuity” curse.