Member of Parliament for Madina Constituency Francis-Xavier Sosu
Two senior police officers have landed themselves in trouble after a complaint was filed against them by a member of Parliament who is claiming that their actions on the morning of Monday, October 25, 2021, constituted an act of contempt of Parliament.
The disgruntled MP who represents the people of Madina says that the officer had given orders that he is picked up, thereby attempting to obstruct him from undertaking a parliamentary duty.
Amid criticism from prominent legal practitioner Sampson Lardi Ayenini, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin has accepted the position of the lawmaker and referred the case to the Privileges Committee of Parliament.
So how did we get here? Below is a breakdown of the stories that make up the Sosu versus Police episode
Sosu leads demonstration on October 25
In a quite unusual fashion, a Member of Parliament was seen leading his constituents to protest over the condition of roads in their constituency.
Francis-Xavier Sosu was in the thick of affairs as dozens from his constituency embarked on a demonstration against the government.
The protesters blocked the Ayi-Mensah, Danfa and Otinibi stretch in the La Nkwantangang-Madina Municipality to demonstrate their frustration about the bad road.
Attempted arrest and scuffle between MP and Police
While the demonstration was ongoing, it emerged that there had been an attempted arrest of Sosu by the police.
The mission however failed after some of the demonstrators shielded the MP who managed to escape.
The MP according to reports sped off from the scene after being protected by the youth.
Sosu vows to take action in Parliament
In an interview later that day, October 25, 2021, Francis Sosu argued that he was on parliamentary duty and that the actions of the police officers was slap in the face of Parliament’s standing order.
He thus vowed to institute contempt charges against them.
“The police did not have any basis. We gave them a letter of protest and demonstration. Protest can be done in all kinds of ways. Usually when there is a protest what the police do is to try to use crowd control measures to ward the people off. When the people resist, that is when you arrest and in this case, I was together with the police and at any point we tried to calm them,’” he said.
“In a democracy, the laws must be enforced. Article 117 of the 1992 constitution makes it very clear that no civil or criminal proceedings will be executed against a sitting member of Parliament, particularly when he’s on parliamentary duty and I was on parliamentary duty with my constituents. I told the police that I was going to do something in Parliament so they knew exactly where I was going.
“What they did, the attempts and destruction of my vehicle clearly violates Order 28 of the Standing Orders and it makes clear that the actions of the police amount to contempt of parliament. I’m serving a petition to the Speaker dragging regional operations commander and divisional commander to the privileges committee so that they will come to parliament to answer to the committee,” he said
Sosu files contempt charges
True to his words, on Tuesday, October 26 when Parliament resumed sitting, Sosu made a case on the floor on Parliament on the said treatment meted out to him by the police.
He also submitted a written document to the Speaker of the House to support his oral submission.
Bagbin refers issue to Privileges Committee
Despite concerns by the Deputy Majority Leader on whether Sosu followed due process, the Speaker of Parliament admitted his request and forwarded it to the Privileges Committee.
“The committee will investigate the complaint and will submit a report to the house for the whole consideration of the matter,” Mr. Bagbin said in Parliament on Wednesday.
“At the end of the day, it is the House that will determine whether the complaint and the report with whatever evidence gathered really did constitute contempt of Parliament.”
The officers cited are ACP Isaac Kojo Asante, the Greater Accra Regional Operations Commander, and ACP Eric Winful, the Adenta Divisional Commander.
Ayenini, Adom-Otchere disagree with Speaker’s ruling
Two prominent media practitioners have questioned the legality of the move by the Speaker of Parliament.
Samson Lardy Anyenini who is also a lawyer argues that at the time of the fracas, Sosu was not undertaking any parliamentary duty, hence not clothed by parliamentary privileges.
A similar position was advanced by journalist Paul Adom-Otchere on Thursday, October 28, edition of his Good Evening Ghana show.