Former Speaker of Parliament, Prof Aaron Mike Oquaye, has expressed concerns over a petition submitted by former Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, seeking to have four parliamentary seats declared vacant because their occupants opted to run as independent candidates in the upcoming general elections.

According to Prof Oquaye, such a move would be illegal without a formal complaint from the affected political parties and a fair hearing for the MPs involved.

On Tuesday, October 15, Parliament debated the petition filed by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, which called for the seats of three New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs and one National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP to be declared vacant.

During the debate, several MPs cited Prof Oquaye’s previous ruling regarding the Fomena MP, Andrews Asiamah, and urged the current Speaker, Alban Bagbin, to apply the same principle.

However, in an interview with JoyNews' Elton John Brobbey, Prof Oquaye insisted that the two cases were not comparable and urged Speaker Bagbin to take a critical and nuanced approach, describing the petition as needless.

“In fact, it was some parts of the executive which initially were protesting, I told them they have no locus in that matter. If they wanted to do what they purported to do, they should let their party do it.

“So the NPP as a party wrote to the Speaker stating why they were withdrawing their support because according to the constitution, this person had betrayed his allegiance to the party,” Prof Oquaye explained.  

He rejected the petition from Mr Iddrisu, stating, “He’s wrong because the benefit is not his. The law does not stand to his inurement. He has no locus because he doesn't belong to the party involved. So it is the NPP that can trigger the removal of the MPs."

He further clarified that the former Minority Leader cannot compel the Speaker to declare the NPP seats vacant, as the NPP must trigger such a process through proper channels, with the NDC involved only where applicable.

"And that's why I've given you the background of that legal provision. It is to correct a certain mischief that can be operated against political parties,” he added.

When asked about MPs leaving or being expelled from their political parties, or running as independents, Prof Oquaye stressed that political parties must follow due process.

“If he leaves his party, if he has been sacked by his party, if the party starts any disciplinary action against him, it's the party who knows. You cannot pronounce anybody guilty, you cannot kick out a Member of Parliament for Parliament unless there's a process of hearing him. 

Prof Oquaye expressed confidence in Speaker Bagbin’s ability to navigate the issue wisely.

"The current speaker is a very experienced man. He's one of the fundamentals of Parliament. I believe that he will go by the way that I'm talking about,” he added.