Francis-Xavier Kojo Sosu, the Member of Parliament for Madina
• The Police have tried on two occassions to arrest Francis-Xavier Sosu
• Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has cautioned the police against arresting the Sosu
• The police are on his heels for leading the demonstration
The Legislative arm of government is seeking to exercise some checks and balances on the powers of an arm of the Executive branch, this is due to the current stand-off with the Ghana Police Service in the matter involving the attempted arrest of a sitting Member of Parliament.
The Police have twice tried unsuccessfully to arrest a member of the legislature who represents the Madina constituency in Accra.
Francis-Xavier Sosu has become the subject of a tussle between the two institutions following his role in a protest by residents of the Ayi-Mensah, Danfa and Otinibi stretch of the La Nkwantangang-Madina Municipality.
The bone of contention is not the demonstration but rather some developments that arose during the demonstration.
Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, ACP Kwesi Ofori on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme of November 1, 2021; explained that Sosu is not being chased by the police for holding an illegal demonstration as widely speculated.
He said that the demonstration on October 25, 2021, had the backing of the police as discussions had already been held on how to go about the protest.
He revealed that the violence that broke out during the protest is what has occasioned the police to go after Francis-Xavier Sosu who was the leader of the protest.
He says the roadblocks and other issues he considers to be acts of violence exhibited by some of the demonstrators contravened the Public Order Act and Sosu as the leader must be held accountable.
“The honorable MP for Madina wrote to the police that he was going to lead a demonstration. The police gave him all the security assistance for the demonstration with his men and women. In the course of the demonstration, violence ensued where some of the demonstrators blocked the roads and burnt lorry tyres among other things that caused nuisance to the community and by so doing impeded vehicular flow.
“Following that, two senior police officers decided to question the MP since he was the one who called for the demonstration. They also wanted to refer him to the Public Order Act which states that the leader will take responsibility in such situations. Following that he entered his car and a man in police situation drove him off and in so doing the police officer nearly knocked down the two police officers,” he said.
The attempt by the police to arrest Sosu has been met with stiff opposition by the Speaker of Parliament who in a letter refused to grant the police their request.
“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.
Also, the legislative body noted that the issue is currently before the Privileges Committee to probe “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.”
The police have meanwhile served notice of its intention to seek clarification at the Supreme Court the immunity granted to Members of Parliament.