Francis-Xavier Sosu
The embattled Member of Parliament for Madina, Francis-Xavier Sosu, yesterday appeared in a Kaneshie Magistrate Court in Accra where a criminal proceeding has been initiated against him by the Ghana Police Service.
The MP who is facing charges of obstruction of public way, causing damage to other road users and unlawful damage appeared before the court without a lawyer but the court did not sit as the presiding Magistrate is on official leave.
The case was therefore, adjourned to February 7, 2022, by which time the Magistrate would have resumed his duties.
Trial
Mr. Sosu, a lawyer, is before the court following a demonstration he organised on October 25, 2021, to push for good roads in his constituency, but it ended in violence, according to the police.
The MP’s appearance before the court on his own follows the decision of the court to rescind a warrant it issued for his arrest after he failed to show up for the trial three consecutive times.
He failed to show up for the third time after the Speaker of Parliament had written to the court on two previous occasions that the MP was on parliamentary duties outside Ghana.
His lawyer, Victor Adawudu had told the court that Mr. Sosu was in a meeting in Parliament regarding the Anti Gay Bill and the MP had sent one Rahman to represent him.
But the prosecution led by ASP Sylvester Asare said the MP’s acts were disrespectful to the court and had shown a clear intention that he (Sosu) did not want to appear before the court.
He said the accused person cannot send another person to represent him in a criminal matter and therefore, urged the court to activate Section 167 of Act 30 and issue a bench warrant for the arrest of the accused person.
The court then asked whether the police had taken a statement from the accused and ASP Asare said the MP had still not availed himself to the police.
Mr. Adawudu then told the court that the accused had not made any effort to give statements because the matter was beyond the police and the police did not have jurisdiction, except, the court.
The prosecutor was particularly impressed by Mr. Adawudu’s response and indicated that, “We are happy that it’s on record that the matter is beyond the police and when something goes beyond the police it means we don’t have jurisdiction, so we humbly invite the court to come under section 167.”
He said no one is above the law, and the court has so much power and nobody can undermine that power, adding that “this court should not be used to mark register.”
Mr. Adawudu, in his bid to convince the court not to issue the bench warrant, indicated that they had been candid with the court and his client should not be punished as he had not misled the court.
The court presided over by His Worship Oheneba Kufuor then noted that there was too much ‘deception’ in the system and subsequently issued a warrant for the arrest of Mr. Sosu.
Warrant Rescinded
But the court later rescinded the bench warrant after counsel for the accused filed an application urging the court to set the warrant aside.
The MP, in the company of some NDC MPs, later went to the court to get the warrant set aside and also filed another motion at the High Court seeking to stay the execution as well as set aside the bench warrant issued by the lower court.
The MP was accompanied by his colleague Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu (Tamale South), Former Deputy Attorney General Dr. Dominic A. Ayine (Bolgatanga East), former Deputy Interior Minister James Agalga (Builsa North), former Youth and Sports Minister, Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye (Odododiodioo), MP, Mahama Ayariga (Bawku Central) among others.
The District Court then agreed to rescind the warrant and subsequently adjourned proceedings until January 12, 2022.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak