Court adjourns hearing as NDC MPs fail to honour summons

The Accra Magistrate Court today,January 4, adjourned the hearing of the suit against some NDC MPs for 'unlawfully demonstrating', as none of the legislators summoned appeared before the court.

Twenty (20) legislators of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) were sued by the state for marching to the head office of the Electoral Commission (EC) in protest against the results of the 2020 elections.

The NDC MPs were expected to appear before the Accra Magistrate Court today, January 4, 202, after being served a summon by the police summon.

They however, failed to honour the summon, forcing the the Accra Circuit Court 11 adjourn the case.

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MP for Kunbungu, Ras Mubarak had had earlier hinted that the NDC would not heed to the summon by the police.

According to him, the police is committing an illegality by executing a criminal summons on serving members of parliament without the permission of the speaker

Ras Mubarak in an interview with  Joy News  said the police should follow the due process in summoning MPs before the court, else they (NDC MPs charged) will not honour the summon.

He said;

Article 117 of the 1992 Constitution states that “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.”
 
“In any case, parliament is sitting tomorrow (Monday) at 10am. And they of all people should know better that when parliament is sitting, unless the speaker explicitly releases any MP, no one can summon them to any court. So, this is an illegality,” Mr. Mubarak said.  
 
“They should follow the Constitution. They should contact the speaker to inform him of what they want to do, the speaker will give directions, invite the parties, and discuss it before any such service can be served on MPs.

“But you don’t send these things to MPs and leak it to the media and expect that any MP will take you seriously. They are taking us into the abyss,” he told Joy News.