Inspector General of Police, George Akuffo Dampare
Deputy Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Nyamah, has called on Ghanaians, especially political activists to be careful not to politicize the work of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) George Akuffo Dampare in his mandate of nipping criminality in the bud in the country.
This follows the attempt by the Police to arrest Madina Lawmaker Francis-Xavier Sosu for allegedly engaging in a violent protest.
Mr. Nyamah stated that as the leader of his constituency, Mr. Sosu is culpable for anything untoward that went on in the demonstration.
He said if the Madina MP has nothing to hide, why is he not availing himself to the police to tell his side of the story when he was invited by the authorities.
Mr. Nyamah opined that had the MP honored the invitation by the police to tell his side of what happened at the demonstration, all this rigmarole concerning his arrest will not have occasioned.
He questioned the rule regarding parliament that says “as long as parliament is in session a member of parliament cannot be arrested?”
Mr. Nyamah said in his opinion, the MPs are stretching their privileges too far from parliament, to him, it seems once parliament is in session the parliamentarians “have a free ball to do whatever they like in the country”.
He said the argument that Mr. Sosu’s engagement in that demonstration amounts to his parliamentary duties is stretching the privileges of parliamentarians too far and that there is the need for constitutional interpretation into the subject for clarity.
Mr. Nyamah pointed out that such constitutional interpretation will serve as a guide for the MPs and the general public to understand what the law states on the subject.
He said this in an interview with Johnnie Hughes on the New Day show on TV3, Monday, November 1.
Mr. Nyamah was speaking on the back of the hunt by the police for the Member of Parliament for Madina Francis Xavier Sosu for his involvement in a demonstration in his constituency that resulted in some participants mounting roadblocks in the area on October 25.
“The issue is that the man has started and he is doing a lot and all of us are happy with it. For once, let’s take out these political innuendos from it, when he arrested a pastor, we had both sides of the political divide bashing him and both sides praising him. Must everything in this country be reduced to NDC and NPP? He has at least shown to us that he means business, so for me let’s take out that aspect”.