Francis-Xavier’s issue should be handled by a united house – ACEPA advises parliament
The seeming different positions being taken by the two caucuses in Parliament over the attempted arrest of Madina lawmaker Francis-Xavier Sosu has attracted the attention of the African Center for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA) who has deemed it as a dangerous precedent being by the legislature.
The tussle over the attempted arrest of the lawmaker to assist the Police with probing over occurrences in his constituency after he led a protest has now taken a political turn in Parliament.
Members on the Majority side called on the Speaker to stop shielding the Lawmaker from arrest while the Minority tend to agree with the Speaker’s interpretation of the law of immunity and privileges of Members of Parliament.
“I think we are going to see more of what is happening now in the future, and that is what I believe is creating this kind of division we are beginning to see. If you look at the position of those in the majority, it is as if the action of the Honourable Member has caused some embarrassment to their government, that is why rather than seeing them very tight and united in the face of this, you are seeing this division.”
“This is a very dangerous precedent because tomorrow it will be the NDC that will be in power should something like this happen in the future,” Executive Director of ACEPA, Dr Rasheed Dramani said.
He called on the house to be united in handling the issue.
“We want to make sure that at the very least, we want to see parliament is united. Public opinion is against parliament and if you have parliament already divided, it is not good for the institution and that is what they should have realized from the beginning”, he stressed.
Police have unsuccessfully tried on two occasions to arrest Francis-Xavier Sosu, and have gone ahead to summon him to appear in court, while Parliament has sent out strong signals that it will not countenance any threat from the police.
The Majority Caucus has disagreed with the Speaker’s posture, accusing him of instituting new rules that seem to undermine the rule of law without any prior discussions with the leadership of the house.
Meanwhile, the Minority in response to the Majority caucus statement has accused their colleagues of deliberately ignoring the facts surrounding the attempted arrest of the MP.
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
