Justice Sai has reacted to Medina MPs arrest with a powerful message as some people are saying that the MP has disrespect Ghana Police Service.
Justice Sai has stated that the question is not whether the police CAN arrest an MP but the question is rather HOW the police should arrest an MP. But he can understand why the question always tends to take the first form:
He stated that we live in a country where it has become generally accepted that a police officer can use any means available to them to arrest a person and seize and access their belongings.
Justice Sai stated that this should never be the case in any country of laws. He said we’re in a country of laws and our laws prescribe procedures for arrest and seizures. According to him, these procedures he mentioned vary for different categories of persons.
He explained that we often call these variations (from the general arrest procedure) “immunity”, much so because the varied procedures further limit the police powers of arrest in respect of certain persons.
He details again that the immunity granted to the Speaker, Members and the Clerk of the Parliament of Ghana is a procedural one and it is meant to merely vary the PROCEDURE for arresting them (from the general police arrest procedure).
According to his explanations, the procedure is that the arrest warrant for a Speaker, an MP or the Clerk of Parliament, unless in exceptional situations where their personal liberty poses imminent danger, should be served through Parliament.
“It baffles me why the police can’t seem to comply with this simple procedure. But, once again, I understand why: the police don’t consider themselves bound by law – they’re accustomed to arresting anyone anyhow.
Now, let’s understand why the Constitution prescribes a different arrest procedure for the Speaker, the Members and the Clerk of Parliament. Perhaps, this would put the matter into its proper perspective” he said.
He went on to state that the Ghana Police Service is not an independent constitutional body. It is, by constitutional arrangement, under the executive branch of government which is under the President.
According to Justice Sai, this means that the President, unless limited by the Constitution, is capable of using the police to frustrate Parliament whose primary job is to serve as a check and a counterbalance to the power of the President.
“So, to overcome this possible channel of the President’s abuse of power and control over the proceedings of Parliament, the framers chose to limit the police’s power of arrest by channeling it through Parliament itself.
Therefore, an argument which says that the police may arrest MPs in the same manner as they arrest everyone else is not only an argument which renders the constitutional procedural limitations useless.
It also, essentially and ultimately, an argument which slashes off Parliament’s independence and, thereby, further enhances the (already powerful) President’s powers.
In other words, it is internally inconsistent to complain that the President is too powerful and, at the same time, insist that he can use the police to arrest Members of Parliament anytime or anyhow” he educate Ghanaians on the issue. Justice Sai made this powerful message known on his social media today, 1st November, 2021.
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