1.    Following the failed attempt by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) to arrest the MP for Manhyia, Nana Agyei Barffour Awuah, EOCO has revealed that it sent an invitation to the MP as far back as February this year to come assist in an investigation but the MP refused to show up.

2.    The MP has also revealed that he was not under investigation, but rather that a company the MP’s law firm represents. He added that a senior partner at the law firm attended EOCO and answered questions on the firm's behalf.

3.    The attempted arrest has reignited the debate about parliamentary immunity, arresting a lawyer at the court premises and the general conduct of EOCO.

4.    First, on the immunity of parliamentarians, the explanation I have read from legal experts shows that the MPs are immune from arrest only when they are attending parliament or on their way from parliament. Some MPs have taken this to mean immunity from arrest while they are MPs.

5.    I’m aware of the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s dignified invitation to an MP and a former head of Customs and how it was difficult for the OSP to get cooperation from the MP during the SML investigations. I don’t know how it ended, but the MP was charged.

6.    While this debate is still raging, it is important to remind ourselves and the MPs that lawmakers should respect the laws of the land. Some MPs engage in criminal conduct. While interviewing MPs for my book, it emerged that some MPs are involved in criminal conduct, such as visa racketeering, ostensibly to make money, the reason Muntaka said many MPs go to parliament. Yes, money over representation of their people.

7.    A sitting Ghanaian MP in the Fourth Republic, Eric Amoateng, was jailed in the United States for drug offences. The current MP for Asante Akyem, OK Frimpong, is under arrest and detention abroad. This means that MPs can break the law and going to parliament should not clothe them with blanket immunity.

8.    If the counter-facts presented by Mr Barffour Awuah are as they are, then his case does not fall under point (7) above. Every case must be treated on its merits.

9.    And that brings me to the second issue, the conduct of EOCO. Two weeks ago, civil society groups and state anti-corruption agencies converged at the British Council under the auspices of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition to assess President Mahama’s 1.8 years’ anti-corruption actions against what he promised.

10. As the keynote speaker, I matched the NDC’s manifesto promises on corruption against what the Mahama administration has done and found an impressive attempt by the administration to live up to its promises.

11. I also found the work by Raymond Archer-led EOCO and the Attorney-General’s work on ORAL impressive. Matched against former EOCO standards and the progress of investigations and prosecutions under other institutions, such as the OSP, I find the pace of investigations and prosecutions by EOCO and the Attorney-General commendable.

12. At that same event, I had cause to point out my concerns about the excesses of the state anti-corruption law enforcement agencies, particularly EOCO. I have raised concerns about the bail conditions in the past.

13. In the case involving Barffour Awuah, many have described the conduct of EOCO’s arresting officer as unprofessional. If I were this official and had an arrest warrant, I would have called for reinforcement or left the scene without attempting to use force. She was overwhelmingly overpowered. But my concern at the anti-corruption dialogue was not only about the individual conduct of EOCO's arresting officers.

14. I spoke about the outrageous bail conditions and bail terms. In that speech, I cited the arrest and detention of PDS officials and their lawyers for using money from a PDS account. Neither the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), which entered into the agreement with PDS, nor any state agency has reported stolen funds. Nobody has written to PDS to say that, after the termination of the contract and reconciliation of the accounts, PDS owed ECG, for which reason the rest should be refunded. That could have begun as a civil case between the parties to the concession agreement if a reconciliation had occasioned liabilities.

15. But the substance of the case was not my main concern at the anti-corruption dialogue. I spoke about EOCO's outrageous bail conditions. In the case I cited, EOCO invited PDS officials and their lawyers, and they all obliged. The officials and their lawyers, who EOCO said were also under investigation, were detained. A female lawyer, who was breastfeeding at the time, was also detained.

16. PDS Board Chairman, Philip Ayesu, and PDS’ Project Director, Viraj Bhat, were detained for two days and granted bail of GHS50 million. The bail condition was revised to GHS 100 million. That is not all; they must report to EOCO three times a week, preventing them from travelling outside Ghana or undertaking long trips outside Accra.

17.  PDS’ lawyers, Justice Kusi-Minkah Premo and Sophia Korkor, were detained for a day each and granted bail of GHS 50 million each, which was later revised to include justification for the GHS 50 million. They also report to EOCO three times every week.

18. A day after the PDS officers and lawyers’ arrests, I spoke to a senior government official involved in the case to understand the case. He explained why EOCO was investigating the matter, adding that the probe was necessary, “even if it doesn’t lead to prosecution.”

19. I agree with the official that not every case investigated must lead to prosecution. And those that lead to prosecution may not necessarily lead to conviction. That’s why the presumption of the suspects' innocence must not be violated merely because they are undergoing investigations. If EOCO discontinues the PDS investigation, which is within its rights, how can it atone for the detentions, the many months these persons have been required to forfeit business  and other travel in and outside Ghana, just to report three times every week? This does not include the freezing of bank accounts of even junior lawyers of the law firm?

20 Both Raymond Archer and EOCO's head of legal have explained to me on separate occasions that EOCO's mandate involves recovery of state assets, so if a bail condition is far below the loss exposure and a suspect jumps bail, the state will lose. If you put this explanation against the PDS case, for instance, the figures do not match, and the investigation has yet to establish how much of ECG's money EOCO claims is still with PDS.

21. It is in light of these excesses that some people may not want to cooperate with EOCO, and justifiably so. If a person respects an invitation to assist in an investigation and knows that they will lead EOCO without outrageous bail conditions and drama, they should have no problem obeying.

21. I am all for people to obey and respect the powers of state agencies, such as EOCO. But if, by not attending to EOCO, which a senior partner of the law firm attended, Barffour Awuah avoided detention, outrageous bail conditions and the punishment of reporting every week, then we should blame the arbitrariness of EOCO for contributing to his refusal to attend.