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NPP MPs Accuse Bagbin of Instituting New Rules That Undermine Rule of Law
The Majority in Parliament have bemoaned how the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin handled the police case involving Madina MP, Francis Xavier Sosu.
Sosu had been wanted by the police after he led his constituents on a demonstration against bad roads.
The police subsequnetly tried to arrest him for unlawful protest however he escaped and reported the matter to the Speaker of Parliament.
Mr Alban Bagbin therefore denied request by the Police to release Mr Sosu to them for arrest.
“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,” Deputy Director of Legal Services, Nana Tawiah Okyir wrote on behalf of the Clerk of Parliament to the Ghana Police.
But a statement issued by the Majority in Parliament on Thursday November 4 regarding the Speaker’s response said ” The Majority Leadership views the foregoing response by Speaker Bagbin as a troubling departure from how his predecessors handled such requests. To avoid doubt, when both Rt Hons Joyce Bamford Addo and Edward Doe 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.”
It added “Now the 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. We ask: What exactly has changed?”
