Speaker Summons Two Police Officers For Harassing Madina MP
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has summoned police officers who allegedly manhandled the Member of Parliament (MP) for Madina, Francis-Xavier Sosu, during a demonstration by his constituents over bad roads.
This follows a petition by the MP, who is also the Deputy Ranking Member of the Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, for the Speaker to cite the cops for contempt of parliament.
The Speaker said the invitation was in accordance with Article 117 of the 1992 Constitution and Order 28 of the Standing Orders of Parliament, which compels the cops to answer questions before the Privileges Committee.
The officers are Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Isaac Kojo Asante, the Regional Operations Commander and the Adenta/Abokobi Divisional Commander ACP Eric Winful.
The Speaker tasked the committee to swiftly investigate the matter and submit its report to the plenary to ascertain any contempt of parliament as spelt out in Order 31 of the Standing Orders of the House.
The Speaker indicated that the abuse and harassment of MPs from both sides of the House was a crippling menace and abuse of the rights and privileges of legislators, hence a change of policing policy.
He said he would soon issue a comprehensive statement on brutalities meted out to MPs and vowed to ensure that such menace ends during his tenure.
The long-time legislator made these pronouncements following a statement delivered on the floor of the House by the MP for Madina in which he stated that police officers manhandled him.
Mr Sosu explained that he led residents within the La Nkwantangang-Madina Municipality to protest over the poor road network in the area, while the angry residents blocked the Ayi-Mensah, Danfa, and Otinibi stretch as part of the protest.
The human rights lawyer explained that he was on parliamentary duties when he led his constituents to protest.
According to him, he had informed the police that he was going for a leadership meeting in parliament after the event.
The contractors responsible have failed to fix the deplorable road.
Mr Sosu stressed that legislators could not be arrested in the course of parliamentary duties without approval from parliament and that though protestors had blocked roads, there was no basis for any arrest because he had followed due process.
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