The Majority group in Parliament has cautioned the Minority to desist from slamming the court anytime it disagreed with it.
It was the view of the Majority caucus, respecting the judgement of the court was the only way to sustain the country’s fledgling but vaunted democracy.
The admonishment of the Majority comes on the back of the Minority’s description of the Supreme Court (SC) ruling, which stated that Deputy Speakers can be counted to form a quorum and vote while presiding as a “judicial support for E-Levy.”
But at a press conference in Parliament yesterday, the Majority said the Majority must learn to accept judicial defeat graciously.
Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, said “It is incumbent upon us to respect the decisions of our courts. If we are not ready to accept their decisions, then we shouldn’t run to them but once you run to them and they deliver their decisions, we should take it as a bitter pill or a sweet chocolate because that decision could be an authority for your own cause (in the future).”
He said “Our colleagues are not principled enough. They always want to operate on the basis of convenience and when they lose they attempt to bring down the whole structure. That is not good for good governance.
“The NDC must learn to accept defeat graciously. When they lose, they should accept it. We must respect the decisions of the bench”.
Citing the Kojoga Adra versus the Attorney-General case of 2015, in which the plaintiff, represented by Mr Afenyo-Markin, sought to stop public servants from holding political party positions, the Deputy Majority Leader said though the decision of the apex court did not go in their favour, they accepted it in good faith.
“We accepted the decision and didn’t scandalise the court. Going by the reasoning in Kojoga Adrah, you cannot approbate and reprobate. You cannot when you are in government argue because conveniently, it goes for you.”
In the opinion of Mr Afenyo-Markin, who is also NPP MP for Effutu, it was democratically unhealthy for the Minority to link the ruling of the SC to the passage of the E-Levy when the case was filed even before the Bill came to the House.
“How on earth will a minority leader make a statement to the effect that the Supreme Court wants to support the passage of the E-Levy? Is it their thinking that anytime they go to court they must win? That is not fair.
“If they continue to break down the institution of democracy, one day they will come back to cross the bridge and there will be no bridge to cross back home,” he said.
The Minority and its wing in Parliament, Afenyo-Markin said, were destroying the structures of democracy and must be stopped.
“The NDC is destroying everything needed to sustain good governance and that is not how to operate a democracy.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI