Atta Akyea’s arrest was unfortunate

Today is deeply concerned about the modus operandi the police used in apprehending the Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea, on Tuesday, July 12, 2011 while in court for alleged stealing and dishonesty.
A contractor, Joseph Adom, of J. Adom Limited, a construction firm, had accused the lawyer and New Patriotic Party member of a series of dishonest acts, including defrauding him of $60,000. He is currently on a $100,000 bail with one surety.

According to the Speaker, Justice Bamford-Addo, the police arrest was carried without her prior knowledge, a move which is in defiance of a provision of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.
In view of the gross violation of the Constitution by the Office of the Attorney-General (AG), this paper is compelled to state its reservations on the matter.
With all due respect, the decision by the Attorney-General’s office to inform the Speaker after the arrest of Mr. Atta Akyea in spite of the immunity he enjoys as a legislator was an abuse of power and indeed a dent on Ghana’s nascent democracy.
If nothing at all, we expected the AG, Mr. Martin Amidu, with his vast experience in law, together with his knowledgeable team, to have done the right thing.
In all sincerity, Today believes the day of the Hon. Atta Akyea’s arrest was a day the dignity of the Legislature was pushed to its lowest since Ghana restored multi-party democracy in 1992.
Therefore, it is necessary that Mr. Amidu and his team come out to render unqualified apology to Parliament and the people of Ghana.
In essence, we are saying that it is about time government spokespersons who have embarked upon all sorts of media gimmick in support of the unconstitutional act by the police are stopped in their tracks.
In fact, the Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Suame Constituency, Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, was spot on when he, on Wednesday, took the AG’s Department to the cleaners when expressing the Minority NPP’s frustrations on the matter at a press conference.
The minority leader, in his statement, could not comprehend the decision of the police to take Mr. Atta Akyea into custody before alerting the Speaker, and described the action as ‘very shameful’.
Today further takes the opportunity to commend Madam Speaker for gathering courage to chastise the police and the AG for their action.
“When I first got wind of the arrest on Tuesday afternoon, I quickly directed that Mr. Atta Akyea is granted bail because the due process was not followed. It was absolutely wrong for Parliament to be informed after his arrest,” Justice Bamford-Addo is reported to have said in Parliament on Wednesday. She also promised to make sure that incident never happens again.
Her stance, at least, shows the ordinary Ghanaian that she will not keep quiet while such constitutional violations go on. For us on this paper that is a guarantee that the head of the key institution in our Fourth Republic is committed to ensuring that rule of law works.