The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has set the records straight on the privileges and immunities of Members of Parliament (MPs).
Mr Bagbin, who agrees with the school of thought that no MP is above the law, adds that he never at any point prevented the arrest of any member of the House.
Citing the case of Madina MP, Francis Xavier-Sosu which in recent times has generated a lot of controversies, the former Nadowli-Kaleo MP described it as an obstruction of parliamentary duties.
“There is an increase in public discourse in recent times about the privileges and immunities of MPs, officers of Parliament, and Parliament itself. It is not new. Since I became an MP, it has been coming up a number of times, and even now, some of these things come to my desk, and we have processed a number of them well.
“We are all aware that a number of MPs are before the court, and they are being prosecuted. So, there is nobody saying, MPs or Parliament are above the law,” he said at a breakfast meeting on Monday.
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According to him, the police had no right to arrest the MP as he was about to address his constituents during the demonstration and had gone through due process.
“But this particular instance before us involving the MP for Madina, I can put my neck on it, that you have no such powers after he had gone through all the processes with you, and then you send your contingent to arrest him while he was talking to his people.
“That is obstruction and how can that be said that the Speaker is preventing the MP to be arrested. That can not be tolerated,” he lashed out.
The human rights lawyer on October 25, led his constituents on a demonstration to get their bad roads fixed.
The legislator is accused of unlawfully blocking public roads and causing destruction to public property.
Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin had earlier written to the police service indicating his inability to release the MP to assist with investigations.
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