The Minority in Parliament has disclosed plans to seek court redress on the approval of the Imposition of Restriction Bill 2020 aimed at enforcing measures to avoid spread of coronavirus in the country.

According to the minority, the approval of the Bill was rushed, hence, they will head to the Supreme Court to seek an interpretation of Article104 of the Constitution which indicates the conduct of votes in the House.

Parliament, yesterday [March 20] approved government’s request to pass the Imposition of Restriction Bill under a certificate of urgency in wake of the outbreak.

The Bill, however does not directly deal with the issue of the coronavirus spread but rather seeks to broadly restrict freedom of movement.

According to reports from Accra based, Joy FM, the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee voted by a 10 to 5 majority, to rush the Bill through the House.

The plenary approved the committee’s report after three hours of heated debate.
Some of the Minority MPs stepped out before the vote was taken on the matter.

The minority argued that the law was “vague” and could easily be misapplied by government to witch-hunt political opponents.

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Covid-19: Parliament Okays Imposition of Restriction Bill under Certificate of Urgency

“We support the President’s measures but this Bill smells like the PDA [Preventive Detention Act] let’s be careful,” Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu said.

He said there were not enough Members of Parliament in the House to give the bill the green light.

“We are going to insist on the recording because we’ll challenge this matter in court…We jealously will safeguard our human rights and freedoms…” he vowed.

But the Majority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu accused the Minority MPs of deliberately exiting the chamber. 

He insisted: “We will not bow to any Minority intimidation.”

The committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs will deliberate on the substance of the Bill on Friday, after which it will submit a report to the House requesting its approval.