The Speaker of Parliament Alban Sumana Bagbin has debunked reports that he had declared the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) as the Majority in Parliament.
“I haven’t stated that the NPP has a majority in Parliament, I haven’t said that…Time will tell…Let’s give ourselves a few more months, we will see who is forming Majority or Minority or whatever,” the Speaker clarified today in the chamber of Parliament.
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the NPP are locked in a tie in Parliament with 137 seats each. The only independent candidate in the august house has said he will do business with the NPP, so the NPP will potentially have a numerical figure of 138 only when there are issues to be voted on, but the extra help from the independent candidate does not make the NPP technically a Majority, neither does that fact make the NDC a Minority.
Already, the leader of the NPP caucus in Parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu is claiming the party is the Majority.
But. Whatsup News can report that the two main parties are in various High Courts contesting about 16 seats for either electoral fraud or some irregularities from the Electoral Commission (EC). The NDC is contesting eight constituencies won by the NPP during the December 7 parliamentary elections, while the NPP is doing vice versa.
Just a single-seat loss will offset the tie in the law-making chamber, making the loser an automatic minority.
The unprecedented tie has thrown the legislative chamber into chaos as both parties jostle to be the first to sit on the right-hand side of the Speaker to indicate their majority status. The left-hand side of the Speaker is officially reserved for the minority side of the House.
In a bid to beat their political rivals to that prestigious side of the legislative chamber, members of parliament of the NPP, reported as early as 4 am to Parliament to occupy the majority side.
Led by the leader of their caucus, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, the obviously sleep-deprived NPP MPs were seen sleeping and snoring in their forcefully acquired seat, as they awaited the business of the day to commence.
Alban Bagbin was forced to clarify the status of the two sides of the chamber after reports claimed the Speaker has claimed the NPP and the independent candidate from the Fomena Constituency, Andrew Amoako Asiamah constituted ‘the majority group’ in the House.
The request for clarification came from the leader of the NDC in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu. The speaker, in responding to the Tamale South MP, stressed that he had spoken of a majority group – consisting of the NPP caucus and its ally and not the technical Majority.