The executive director of the Parliamentary Network Africa, Samuel Obeng, has described the standoff between Parliament and the police as a “needless show of power”.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has refused to release the MP for Madina, Francis-Xavier Sosu, to the police for questioning over “unlawful road blockade and destruction of public property” during a demonstration in his constituency.
Touching on the development, Obeng said he expects the two institutions individually to set up pragmatic systems to handle such cases.
“These are institutions that are expected to, on a good day, collaborate on such arrests because the constitution is very clear on the processes and procedures as pertains to MPs and officials of the Legislature,” Obeng told the host of The Big Bulletin, Beatrice Adu.
He added: “It is my considered opinion that these two institutions are supposed to be working together to be able to make sure that people who are alleged to have committed crime are taken through the processes and dealt with through due processes. And so it’s a needless show of power and I think we need to rise above this.
“My expectation is that a proactive institution like Parliament should be putting in place systems and practices in-house on how to deal with these things.”
Minority vs Majority banter
The Minority in Parliament has accused the Majority of deliberately ignoring the facts surrounding the attempted arrest of the Madina MP.
In a statement released on Thursday 4 November 4, the Majority said it is of extreme concern that the Speaker has refused to release the MP to assist in police investigations relating to a demonstration he led in his constituency.
The statement further suggested that Bagbin seems to be introducing new rules which undermine the rule of law and without any prior discussion with the leadership of the House.
A counterstatement by the Minority said the Majority’s statement betrays an attempt to undermine the authority of the Speaker.
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