The Africa Center for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA) has expressed deep concern over the recent comment of the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin on a Circuit court judge demanding an urgent and comprehensive review of the laws governing parliamentary immunity for Members of Parliament (MPs).
Speaking on Star News, the Executive Director of ACEPA, Dr. Rasheed Draman, warned that the current ambiguities in the immunity regime pose a significant threat to governance, particularly if the heads of the legislature and the judiciary find themselves at loggerheads.
Dr. Draman noted that while informal understandings have been used to navigate friction in the past, a more permanent, legally binding solution is required to prevent systemic breakdown.
“We have to take a look at the entire provision…whatever it is, there should be some agreement in terms of what that kind of immunity regime entails, so that everybody abides by it irrespective of whether you are in power or you are in opposition,” he said.
Alluding to a friction between the arms of government, the ACEPA boss recalled a previous intervention where leadership had to step in to establish temporary operational rules.
“I recall a few years ago, the Right Honorable Speaker had to get into some agreement with the Chief Justice at the time because of some challenges that were associated with the immunity regime as we have it. To the extent that they had to come to some agreement about when—the days on which—MPs will be served if we have to respect their immunity, the procedure, and all those things,” he said.
Dr. Draman who was commenting on the recent comment of the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin about the actions of a judge stressed that these procedural frameworks can no longer rely on mere goodwill or ad-hoc arrangements, but must be explicitly codified.
“This must be spelled out clearly in whatever laws that we have,” he asserted.
He also warned of a potential deadlock where a lack of legal clarity could be weaponized or lead to a institutional paralysis.
“If you get to a point someday where there’s a Chief Justice and a Speaker of Parliament who don’t see eye to eye, and then you have a Chief Justice who also wants to say, ‘I have to go strictly according to the dictates of the constitution,’ then it becomes quite problematic,” he warned.
ACEPA is therefore calling on Parliament and legal stakeholders to take proactive steps to define the exact boundaries of parliamentary immunity to guarantee institutional accountability while safeguarding the independence of the legislature.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
