Member of Parliament for Madina Constituency, Francis-Xavier Sosu says the Supreme Court’s reversal of Speaker Alban Bagbin’s decision to expel four lawmakers from parliament has landed the country in a constitutional crisis, instead of addressing the impasse.
While acknowledging the apex court’s prerogative to interpret the constitution, Mr. Sosu said the public had a right to share its thoughts on the consequential ruling.
In a 5-2 verdict, the Supreme Court ruled that four incumbent Members of Parliament who were expelled from the House on grounds that they had switched their political status, was unconstitutional.
The court held that they could be ejected from Parliament if their switched from a political party to independent status or vice-versa, in the current parliament.
However, the Madina MP speaking on Starr Chat with Bola Ray on Thursday, said that decision creates more problems than it solves.
“What the Supreme Court has done is to plunge the entire country into a constitutional crisis, instead of rather resolving the crisis.
“I say so because you can read Agyei Twum versus The Republic, Asare versus The Republic, the authorities of Aharon Barak who have written extensively about constitutional interpretation and all these authorities will tell you that, when you are faced with a constitutional instrument, the first rule is what we call the ordinary meaning rule,” he said on Starr FM.
He explained that when the ordinary meaning of law does not lead to any absurdity, the courts give meaning to the effect of the law.
“If the ordinary meaning will lead to some absurdity,” he continued, “or some ambiguity, then you have the warrant to depart from the ordinary meaning and then attempt to discover the purpose at the core of the text and give effect to that purpose.”
Mr. Sosu noted that the Supreme Court’s ruling had given an interpretation to the constitution “that leads to absurdity”.
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