Ransford Gyampo, an associate professor in the political science department of the University of Ghana, has called for the suspension of the police’s powers of arrest because the poor show they have made of handling the Francis-Xavier Sosu impasse.
There is a standoff between the police and Parliament as the Police Service pursues Sosu, the MP for Madina, to assist in investigations over an “unlawful road blockade and destruction of public property” during a demonstration in his constituency.
Speaking on The Asaase Breakfast Show on Friday (5 November), Gyampo said: “If the police, for whatever reason, are unable to arrest an individual of the land, then there is no basis for them to think of arresting anybody.
“Apart from the president who has a certain constitutional protection against some of these things, I think that if, for any reason, a mortal human being cannot be invited by the police for at least for interrogation, then their power of arrest must be suspended.
“We should all be below the law. The law should be above all of us.”
Sosu appears in court 8 November
Meanwhile, the police have officially filed charges against Francis-Xavier Sosu.
“The police have obtained a criminal summons and [this has] been duly served for [Sosu] to appear in court on 8 November,” the director general of the Ghana Police Service, ACP Kwesi Ofori, told the media on Wednesday (3 November 2021).
He said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) lawmaker has been charged with “obstructing a public highway and causing damage to public property”.
The police are pursuing the legislator in relation to his alleged involvement in a protest in his constituency which led to the “unlawful road blockade and destruction of public property”.
The Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of the Ghana Police Service wrote to the Speaker on Wednesday (27 October 2021) requesting the release of the MP.
However, a response issued through the deputy director of legal services, Nana Tawiah Okyir, said: “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 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 in your letter.”
Matter for privileges committee
The Speaker said he had already referred the case to the privileges committee of Parliament, asking it to probe a “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”.
In a statement on Sunday (31 October), the police said: “The MP, Francis-Xavier Sosu, was invited on the day of the protest to assist the police for his alleged involvement in the unlawful blockade of a road and the destruction of public property but he declined the invitation.
“He declined further invitations, citing parliamentary privilege.
“Three other persons have been interrogated on this matter and we shall continue to use every legal means to interrogate all other suspects including the Honourable MP for Madina,” the statement said.
“No attempt” to invade church
The police also denied going to the MP’s church to effect his arrest on Sunday.
“Stories circulating that some police personnel had been dispatched to arrest the MP at a church today, Sunday 31 October 2021, are untrue,” said the statement, signed by ACP Kwesi Ofori on behalf of the Police Service.
“Any plain-clothed police personnel found on the premises of the church may have been there for intelligence purposes and not to effect an arrest.”
Below is the full statement:
Fred Dzakpata
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