A former ranking member of Parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Committee, Inusah Fuseini, has disputed the Speaker’s claims that the Police did not have the power to arrest the Madina MP.

The Speaker, Alban Bagbin, at a breakfast meeting on Monday, said the decision of the Police to arrest the Madina MP, Francis-Xavier Sosu was contemptuous of the House.

According to Mr Bagbin, MPs are not above the law as there is evidence of members of the House being currently under prosecution. However, due processes must be followed to the letter.

“Nobody is saying that MPs are above the law, but in this particular instance of the Madina MP, I can put my neck for it, that you [the police] have no such power,” he said.

But reacting to this, Mr Fuseini stressed that the Speaker is not able to make such determination.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story, the former Tamale Central lawmaker said the Speaker’s utterances are his opinion, not a declaration.

“The best forum to determine whether the police were obstruction the Member of Parliament in the performance of his duties or whether the police was seeking to exercise their powers unlawfully is the law court and not the Speaker,” he told Evans Mensah.

Mr Fuseini also disagreed with Mr Bagbin’s proposal to introduce legislation to strengthen the House’s contempt powers.

He explained that the Speaker must leave the interpretation of the constitutional provisions regarding contempt of Parliament to the courts.

“He should leave it that way, and then you encourage Members of Parliament to test the limit of contempt of Parliament in court.

“The law is a living organism. The court will always stretch the limit if they are minded to do so on the contempt of Parliament provision,” he stated.