For the second time in just two weeks, the Member of Parliament for Madina Francis-Xavier Sosu has escaped Police arrest.
The latest one was when Police stormed his church on Sunday October 31 to arrest him for allegedly partaking in a violent demonstration in his constituency
The Head Pastor of Believers’ House of Prayer Ministries, Bishop Chris Ablordey, told journalists on Sunday that “When the Ministration was going on he was preaching, somebody walked in with a nose mask and later the ushers informed me that there are some security persons around and they will like to have a word with me. So quickly, I went outside to meet with them, they came with pick up and said they are here to arrest honourable because they invited him four days ago but he couldn’t report himself so they are here to take him away.
“I tried finding out from them about their arrest warrant, they couldn’t provide but they showed me their ID card that they are coming from the CID headquarters,” he told Accra based Starr FM.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin had earlier referred a complaint made by Sosu to the Privileges Committee.
This was after Sosu officially lodged a complaint against the Accra regional police operations commander Isaac Kojo Asante on Wednesday October 27 to the Speaker for attempting to arrest him in line of his parliamentary duty.
The Speaker in his ruling said “The committee will investigate the complaint and will submit a report to the house for the whole consideration of the matter.”
He added “I receive complaints. I receive information about police service personnel pursuing Members of Parliament on both sides of the house, and I have on a number of occasions intervened to talk to the authorities and to draw their attention to the law.”
“Members of Parliament have some special rights because of the peculiar nature of the position, functions, and duties of the Member of Parliament.”
Sosu was seeking the police chief and others to be hauled before the privileges committee for contempt of parliament.
“The Police officers under the command of the said ACP Isaac Kojo Asante m, the regional operations commander and Eric Wilful the Divisional Commander of Adenta Aokobi led their boys to manhandle me and virtually held, me , humiliated me right in the presence of my constituents with whom we were demanding for better roads.”
He escaped police arrest on Monday, October 25 as he finished addressing protesters at Ayi Mensah.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP had led some of his constituents to embark on a demonstration against deplorable roads in his constituency.
The demonstration started peacefully at Danfa around 6:00am but later saw demonstrators burning tyres and mounting roadblocks on the Ayi Mensah-Danfa Road.
TV3’s reporter Joseph Armstrong Gold-Alor said this action by the residents led to reinforcement from the police, whose Formed Police Unit (FPU) rushed to the scene with combat vehicles.
After he addressed the demonstrators, reiterating the power of the people over people in power, the MP came under attack from the police, who attempted to pick him up.
There was commotion as a result of the attempted arrest.
The demonstrating residents, however, resisted the police and vowed to fight back if their representative in Parliament is arrested.
The police then arrested one of the opinion leaders. He is said to be a chief of the area.
The attempt to arrest Sosu attracted condemnation from his colleague Lawmaker for Ningo Prampram, Sam Nartey George.
Sam George as he is popularly called, questioned the presence of the National Security Operatives and Police Personnel at the Church premises of his colleague MP.
“So why is the Ghana Police Service disregarding a directive from the Rt. Honourable Speaker of Parliament on the intention to arrest the Honourable MP for Madina, Lawyer Francis-Xavier Sosu?” he wrote on his Facebook wall.
He continued “Who are the Police Officers at the Church premises at Ritz Junction in Madina seeking to arrest the MP? Is the IGP aware of this order and what it means in the face of Mr. Speaker’s directives?”
“Well we can assure the IGP and the Police Officers involved that the full might of Parliament’s Privileges Committee would be brought to bear on their actions if they want a show down. Enough of the disrespect for Parliament. The Constitution is clear on the processes to arrest a sitting Member of Parliament.
“We would respond in full measure and drastically! That is a promise!” he reiterated.
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