Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, ACP Kwesi Ofori
• Speaker of Parliament has cautioned the police against breaching laws to arrest MPs
• Francis-Xavier Sosu has resisted arrest for the second time
• The police want MP to answer questions over some protests that happened last week
Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, ACP Kwesi Ofori, has said that the Ghana police is ready to seek an interpretation of the Parliamentary privileges afforded to lawmakers at the Supreme Court if the need arises.
This he says is an option they have considered to compel the Member of Parliament for Madina, Francis-Xavier Sosu, to report himself for questioning.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast show, ACP Kwesi Ofori said the police has the right to question lawyer Francis-Xavier for leading an unlawful protest in his constituency on October, 25, 2021.
“We are in a democratic country. The police have options. Even if it comes to the interpretation of that clause in the Supreme Court, the police are prepared to do it,” ACP Ofori said.
Article 117 says that “civil or criminal processes coming from any court or place out of Parliament shall not be served on, or executed in relations to, the Speaker or a member or the Clerk to Parliament while he is on his way to, attending at or returning from, any proceedings of parliament”.
Speaker Alban Bagbin, last week, summoned the police to Parliament’s Privileges Committee over harassment of Madina MP.
This comes after the MP lodged an official complaint to Parliament on October 26, 2021, against the Accra regional police operations commander, Isaac Kojo Asante, for attempting to arrest him in the line of duty.
The Madina MP also resisted a second arrest attempt by police on Sunday, October 31, 2021, following the intervention of the Minority Chief Whip of Parliament, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak.