The Minority in Parliament is calling for a “thorough” internal review within Parliament under the leadership of Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin in the face of the “indecent haste” with which a letter was written to the Electoral Commission, Ghana (EC) in declaring the Kpandai seat vacant.
According to the Minority, it had cautioned Parliament over the letter written by the Clerk to the EC as the Tamale High Court judgement had been challenged at the time.
“That letter to the Electoral Commission, sent on the back of a single first‑instance judgment and in the teeth of pending challenges, triggered plans for a 30th December, 2025 rerun in Kpandai that the Supreme Court was ultimately compelled to halt,” the Minority said in a press release issued by Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin following the quashing by the Supreme Court of the Tamale High Court ruling on Monday November 24.
“The apex Court had, as far back as December 2025, ordered the Commission to suspend all proceedings related to the Kpandai rerun pending the final determination of the case – an order that should never have been necessary had Parliament observed its own long‑standing practice of waiting for finality before activating the vacancy machinery.”
It cited how the likes of Dan Abodakpi, Adamu Dramani Sakande and James Gyakye Quayson were handled by administration, allowed to exhaust all legal processes.
“In sharp contrast, Kpandai was treated as a seat that could be stripped away almost automatically on the basis of a contested High Court decision, without waiting for the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court and despite a pending motion for stay of execution – a posture that the Minority consistently described as unlawful, premature and dangerous for the rule of law.”
It stressed that Wednesday’s ruling by the Supreme Court has vindicated the Minority.
“The very judgment on which the Clerk’s letter and the planned rerun were founded has been declared a nullity for want of jurisdiction.
“That should be a sobering lesson to all constitutional actors: Parliament must not move faster than the law; administrative letters must not outrun judicial processes; and no arm of government should lend itself to the creation of ‘manufactured vacancies’ in the House.”
The caucus is, therefore, calling for a review within the House “to ensure that in future no notification of vacancy is issued while appeals and applications for stay are pending, unless a final court expressly directs
otherwise”.
It also wants a “recommitment by all sides of the House to the long‑standing parliamentary practice, illustrated by the Abodakpi, Sakande, Nyimakan and Quayson experiences, of respecting the hierarchy of courts and awaiting final judicial determination before taking steps that permanently affect representation and the composition of the House”.
It said it will remain vigilant in “defending due process, electoral integrity and the sovereign right of every Ghanaian constituency to choose its representative without fear that its mandate will be casually set aside”.