Francis-Xavier Sosu fails to show up in court again

The Member of Parliament for Madina, Francis-Xavier Sosu, has failed to show up in court for the second time.

Police Prosecutor, ASP Sylvester Asare, told the Kaneshie District Court 1 that the Court had served a hearing notice on Parliament and wondered whether the same had been responded to.

But a 10th November 2021 letter, signed by a Deputy Clerk of Parliament, Eric Owusu Mensah, and addressed to the Registrar of the Court noted in response to the hearing notice that Mr. Sosu was still on Parliamentary duty, and out of the jurisdiction.

According to the letter as read by the Court Clerk, Francis-Xavier Sosu is  “attending at the proceedings of the  3rd Meeting of the 1st Session of the 8th Parliament which commenced on Tuesday 26th November 2021, and is also currently representing Parliament and the country in a conference in the United States of America”.

The letter says under stated constraints of the Constitution, Speaker Bagbin is “unable to bring the service to the attention of the Member of Parliament as requested.”

The case subsequently been adjourned to November 26, 2021.

The MP has been out of the country on Parliamentary duty and could not appear in Court last week, following a number of failed attempts by the police to arrest him.

His attempted arrests had sparked political controversy relating to his immunities as a Member of Parliament.

Mr. Sosu led a demonstration in which the police contend included some unlawful acts, hence the attempt to arrest the MP.

Mr. Sosu has said police manhandled him on the day of the protest.

This led to him filing a complaint in Parliament against two police officers.

There were also police officers present at a church service to arrest the MP, although the police have denied that there was an attempt to arrest him at the church.

This compelled the police to secure a criminal summons for Mr. Sosu. The MP, however, missed the court date because he was out of the country.