MPs to lose immunity from arrest

Members of Parliament may no longer enjoy immunity from arrest when the house is in session as provided for in Article 117 of the 1992 Constitution.

“Civil or criminal process coming from any court or place out of Parliament
shall not be served on, or executed in relation to, the Speaker or a member
or the clerk to Parliament while he is on his way to, attending at or
returning from, any proceedings of Parliament.”

But the government has accepted a recommendation by the CRC that this provision be amended to allow civil or criminal processes to be served on the Speaker or MPs through the Clerk of Parliament whilst the House is in session.

This is one of many recommendations accepted by government in the proposals tabled by the constitution review commission.

The white paper was officially made public at a two-day workshop with the media, chiefs and people from the three regions in the north over the weekend.

Other recommendations accepted by the government include one saying all public institutions should be composed of at least 30 per cent of each gender.

One critical recommendation is the independence of the Bank of Ghana which is that the Governor should have a mandatory 10-year non-renewable tenure of office.

The government however rejected a recommendation that the time period a suspect can be held without charge be reduced from 48 hours to 24 hours.

About 90 percent of the recommendations were accepted, but some participants at the two-day workshop in the Northern Region mainly journalists say issues government rejected were very important to national development.

Click here to read the White Paper as issued by the government on the recommendations.