The Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Parliamentary Affairs, Dr. Rashid Draman says the move to prosecute 20 National Democratic Congress(NDC) MPs is not a smart one considering the nature of the 8th Parliament.
According to the statement of offence, the NDC MPs unlawfully assembled and conducted themselves “in a manner likely to cause persons in the Neighbourhood reasonable fear where a breach of the peace is likely to be occasioned.”
This was after they embarked on a march on December 22 to the Electoral Commission headquarters to protest the results of the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary polls.
They in the process broke a police barricade that had been erected to block their access to the EC Headquarters.
The march came on the back of the continuous street protests by supporters of the party following the declaration of results by the chairperson of the Electoral Commission Jean Mensa.
Commenting on the issue in an interview with Joy FM monitored by Kasapafmonline.com, Dr. Rashid Draman urged the prosecuting authority to reconsider the decision as not prosecuting the MPs will be in the good interest of the nation.
“We’re dealing with what is going to be a very difficult 8th Parliament where however you look at it we need the NPP and NDC to work together. We have seen so many crimes in this country related to this election we’ve had. What happened to those who killed in Techiman, what happened to the honourable. member who fired the shot.”
“So please, look at the mood of the nation, you have to apply the law but sometimes some common sense is needed and I think this is a situation where you have Haruna Iddrisu, Muntaka, Avedzi, almost all the key people that will be needed to make the next parliament function. Honestly, it’s not smart, I think that our security agency should carefully reconsider this” Dr. Rashid Draman added.
Meanwhile, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, and his 19 other colleague MPs who were expected to appear before an Accra Circuit Court on Monday failed to show up in court.
The police prosecutor indicated his readiness to proceed with the case when it was called but the failure of none of the accused persons or their lawyers present forced the presiding judge to adjourn the case without a new set date.
Background
The Minority in Parliament on December 22 marched to the Electoral Commission headquarters to protest the results of the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary polls.
The march came on the back of the continuous street protests by supporters of the party following the declaration of results by the chairperson of the Electoral Commission Jean Mensa.
The NDC and its flagbearer John Mahama described the results which gave President Akufo-Addo 51% of the votes as ‘flawed’.
The MPs intended to march to the EC Head office and present a petition to the Chairperson of the Commission over the results of the December elections.
Source: Kasapafmonline.com/102.5FM
