Speaker of Parliament, Alban S.K Bagbin has issued a reply letter to the Ghana Police Service on the release of the MP for Madina, Francis Xavier Sosu, for interrogation.

According to the letter, the speaker stated the Madina MP will be engaged in legislative proceedings so he cannot be released!!

“I am directed by the Rt. Hon. Speaker to inform you that proceedings of the 3rd Meeting of the 1st Session of the 8th Parliament commenced on Tuesday 26th October 2021, and having regard to the limitations of articles 117 and 118 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic, he is unable to release the Member of Parliament as requested in your letter.

“The Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament further directs that I refer you to the provisions of article 122 of the 1992 Constitution and to inform you that on Wednesday the 27th October, 2021 he referred to the Privileges Committee of Parliament, allegations of breach of parliamentary privilege and contempt by ACP Isaac Kojo Asante and ACP Eric Winful of the Accra Regional Police Command and the Adenta Divisional Command respectively,” the letter signed by the Deputy Director of Legal Services of Parliament stated.

Prior to this, the Police have declared its intention to interrogate Mr. Sosu after he led a protest against bad roads in his constituency where some of the protestors blocked roads and burnt tyres and allegedly destroyed some state property.😲😲😲😲

Police have mentioned that the action of the constituents amounted to criminal activity and have tried to invite the MP (who led the demonstration) to assist with investigations after he resisted arrest when some police officers tried to arrest him during the protest.

It is believed (by some political analysts) that Sosu supervised an illegality by ALLOWING HIS CONSTITUENTS to apply lawless methods during their demonstration.

This action by the residents led to reinforcement from the police, whose Formed Police Unit (FPU) rushed to the scene with combat vehicles.

The police reportedly made a second attempt to arrest Mr. Sosu while he was in Church on Sunday though the Police administration has denied the reports. Stating those men were there for intelligence gathering.

In response to the police, Mr. Sosu was of the view that albeit the protestors had blocked roads during the protest, there was no basis for any arrest because he had followed due process in organising the protest.

He went further and filed a formal complaint in Parliament citing two police commanding officers of contempt of Parliament after the first attempt by the police to arrest.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, referred the complaint against the two police officers to the Privileges Committee of Parliament.

The officers cited in Mr. Sosu’s complaint were ACP Isaac Kojo Asante, the Greater Accra Regional Operations Commander, and ACP Eric Winful, the Adentan Divisional Commander.

At what Point can an MP be arrested?

Articles 117 and 118 which form the basis for the Speaker’s refusal to release the Madina MP and MP’s behaviour must be subjected to legal interpretations.

The Supreme Court will be The Best Place to Address This Issue.

Indeed many Ghanaians are NOW calling for a Full Scale Review of the 1992 Constitution, the “Legal Bible” which EMPOWERS and PROTECTS the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary.

Sources: DGN online and Afrisearch Ghana Media 🇬🇭