Ghana not a banana republic; Minority react to Police invasion into Dauda's home

Members of the Minority in Parliament have berated the Ghana Police Service and by extension, the Akufo-Addo administration after some personnel of the security apparatus invaded the home of Alhaji Collins Dauda.

Addressing the media in Parliament, Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu called President Akufo-Addo and the Minister for the Interior to order following the incident at the residence of the MP for Asutifi South.

According to reports, about eight Police officers stormed the residence of Mr. Dauda Tuesday dawn based on allegations of masterminding the recent attack by some unknown thugs at Sankore in the Brong Ahafo Region.

Mr. Iddrisu criticized the action by the Police and questioned the civility of the procedure.

“… A sitting Member of Parliament respects the law and will respect the law. We demend civility and courtesy in this matters. We expect that the Inspector General of Police and the Minister for the Interior must know that which is legally and constitutionally appropriate. We have never ever said anywhere that Members of Parliament are above the law or above criminal investigation, but to beseech the home of an MP with that thuggery of men in uniform is intimidating and unacceptable for us,” he noted.

He charged the Police to put a stop to such unwarranted approaches and cautioned the NPP government that the minority are not scared and are equally capable of responding to such threats of intimidation and harassment.

“.. we are not cowards, let them be reminded and we will not be cowed by some of these intimidations and harassments. It must stop. We are very very capable of responding to those threats of intimidation and harassments.

We are law abiding, we’ll continue to be… so President Nana Addo Dankwa, Minister for the Interior, Inspector General of Police, Ghana is not a banana republic,” He concluded.



In a related development Speaker of Parliament Prof. Mike Oquaye during the House’s sitting expressed disappointment for the actions by the Police and chided them for attempting to use arbitrary means to enforce the law.

“We want the security agencies to be mindful of the fact that the police should not invade the premises of a Member of Parliament or appear to be doing so in a manner that will raise unnecessary difficulties for us.”

Prof. Oquaye stressed that the privileges the legislature enjoys must be respected.

He said MPs are not to be “taken by surprise or not to be treated in a manner that will not be consistent with the dignity that an honorable Member of Parliament should be attended to.”

In addition, he urged the police to follow the laid down procedure of inviting MPs to assist in investigations.



“We want to put on record that in future, the leadership of the House and the Speaker of the House should be informed of all such needs so that it can be done with the appropriate decency.”