The Leadership of Majority Caucus in Ghana’s Parliament has expressed concern over seeming attempt by the Speaker of Parliament, Rt Hon Alban S.K. Bagbin to shield MP for Madina Francis-Xavier Sosu from arrest.
The caucus in a statement on November 4, 2021, said it views response by Speaker Bagbin to the Ghana Police Service request to release the beleaguered MP as a troubling departure from how his predecessors handled such requests.
“The Majority Leadership in Parliament notes with extreme concern the refusal of the Speaker of Parliament, Rt Hon Alban S.K. Bagbin, to release the Member of Parliament (MP) for Madina, Hon Francis Xavier Sosu, to the Ghana Police Service to assist with investigations into alleged offences committed during a recent demonstration in his constituency”.
In a letter dated October 27, 2021, the Ghana Police Service officially identified Francis-Xavier Sosu as a person of interest and, therefore, requested the Speaker to release him to assist with investigations.
However, in a response dated October 28 2021, the Speaker said: “Proceedings of the 3rd Meeting of the 1st Session of the 8th Parliament commenced on Tuesday 26 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”
But Majority Caucus believes the current Speaker’s response is a departure from what used to be the case. They noted “ To avoid doubt, when both Rt Hons Joyce Bamford Addo and Edward Doc Adjaho received those requests during their days in office, they responded by inviting the relevant MPs, held discussions with them, and then asked them to report to the requesting Police or investigative authorities”.
Again, during his tenure as Speaker, Rt Hon Professor Mike Oquaye modified the arrangement, including making the Speaker’s Conference Room available to the Police to meet with MPs they were interested in and to conduct initial investigations. He did this to protect the dignity of MPs while at the same time ensuring that MPs are not put above the law. At all these times, Hon Bagbin, as he then was, had been part of the leadership of the House”.
The Majority said the actions of Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament, Rt Hon Bagbin, appears to be instituting new rules that seem to undermine the Rule of Law without any prior discussions with the Leadership of the House, asking “What exactly has changed?”
“As a group, the Majority believes firmly that constitutionally guaranteed immunity for MPs in our democracy must not only be protected always but jealously guarded as well. However, never should we, as a Parliament, make the mistake of allowing immunity to be construed to mean impunity”.
We take a firm view that in the particular case under reference, Parliament, as the law-making arm of our democracy, has a constitutional, legal and moral duty to cooperate and collaborate with the Police to ensure that the Rule of Law prevails, they said.
Further, Parliament must not be seen to be creating a false regime of two separate laws in Ghana – one for MPs and another for non-MPs. Instead, Parliament must ensure the equality of all citizens, including MPs, before the law, the statement ended.
