The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has referred a complaint against two police personnel from the Madina MP, Francis-Xavier Sosu, to the Privileges Committee of Parliament.
“The committee will investigate the complaint and will submit a report to the house for the whole consideration of the matter,” Mr. Bagbin said in Parliament on Wednesday.
“At the end of the day, it is the House that will determine whether the complaint and the report with whatever evidence gathered really did constitute contempt 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 Adenta Divisional Commander.
Mr. Sosu had joined some of his constituents for a protest over bad roads.
“Even my car, when I was ready to move the car, they were not going to allow me to move the car. They kept banging the car, and the frontage of the car is destroyed.”
Though protestors had blocked roads, Mr. Sosu said there was no basis for any arrest because he had followed due process.
“There was a letter of protest and demonstration. The public protest comes in all kinds of ways,” he said.
The MP insisted that the protest was in accordance with the Public Order Act and did not warrant his attempted arrest and manhandling by the police.
“It is my respectful contention that the attempt by the two officers to publicly arrest and manhandle me amount to an act intended to impede and obstruct the legitimate discharge of my duties as a Member of Parliament and the said act is an affront to the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana,” Mr. Sosu said in a formal platform.
Delivering his ruling on the complaint, the Speaker of Parliament indicated that he was concerned with the conduct of law enforcement officers towards MPs.
He also said he will issue a statement on the matter in due time.
“I receive complaints. I receive information about police service personnel pursuing Members of Parliament on both sides of the house, and I have on a number of occasions intervened to talk to the authorities and to draw their attention to the law.”
“Members of Parliament have some special rights because of the peculiar nature of the position, functions, and duties of the Member of Parliament,” Mr. Bagbin stressed.
