The Member of Parliament for Asokwa who doubles as the Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Patricia Appiagyei has taken a strong stance against what he describes as a premature and unconstitutional attempt to notify the Electoral Commission (EC) of a vacancy in the Kpandai Constituency.
Addressing journalists in Parliament on Tuesday, 9th December 2025, he warned that the action triggered by a contested High Court ruling undermines the rights of the sitting MP, Matthew Nyindam, and risks setting a dangerous precedent for parliamentary democracy.
According to him, Parliament received a communication from the Clerk notifying the EC of a vacancy based solely on the High Court decision. He argued that this move disregards the fact that Hon. Nyindam has already exercised his constitutional rights by filing a stay of execution, lodging an appeal, and initiating a certiorari application at the Supreme Court.
He questioned why Parliament would act as though the High Court ruling is final when the legal process is still ongoing. “What manner of Parliament are we,” he asked, “that we would rush to enforce a judgment that is legally suspended and pre-empt our superior courts?”
He pointed to several precedents where Parliament refrained from declaring seats vacant until appeals were fully determined. Cases involving Samuel Nyimakan, Eric Amoateng, Dan Abodakpi, and Adamu Dramani Sakande, he said, all reflected Parliament’s long-standing practice of restraint.
He also challenged comparisons to the case of James Gyakye Quayson, explaining that Parliament only took decisive action after specific orders from the Supreme Court—not on the basis of a High Court ruling alone. In Kpandai’s case, he stressed, no such order exists.
The Deputy Minority Leader argued that pushing ahead with the notification amounts to disenfranchising the people of Kpandai, who voted overwhelmingly for Hon. Nyindam with a margin of 3,734 votes. He warned that treating a first-instance ruling as final sets a “toxic precedent,” allowing any parliamentary majority to weaponize lower court decisions against political opponents.
He called on Parliament to withdraw the notice to the Electoral Commission and wait for the full conclusion of the appellate process. Anything short of this, he said, amounts to a violation of the separation of powers and a disregard for Ghana’s constitutional order.
“The people of Kpandai are watching. Ghana is watching. History is watching,” he concluded.
Story by Sheila Otuo – Baffour