Outgoing Speaker of Parliament Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, has finally explained why he had to use his powers to protect Mahama Ayariga from the Police to save him from public ridicule.
It would be recalled that an Accra High Court judge, Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe, ordered Mahama Ayariga to appear before her after he was accused by the Office of Special Prosecutor of allegedly abusing his office as a public officer.
According to former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, Mahama Ayariga benefitted by “selling three Toyota V8 Land Cruisers with registration numbers GR 2220-18, GR 2221-18 and GR 2222-18 meant to be used for your official duties as a Member of Parliament to Kendrick Akwasi Marfo of ATLAS-Rent-A-Car at a price of GH¢40,000 each.”
The Bawku Central MP is also among other things being accused by the Special Prosecutor of transferring “foreign exchange from Ghana through an unauthorised dealer contrary to sections 15(3) and 29(1) of the Foreign Exchange Act 2006, Act 723.”
But in an exclusive interview with Oheneba Nana Asiedu which was monitored by Wontumionline.com, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye stated that as head of the august house, he had to ensure privileges reserved for Parliamentarians are put to use when the need be.
For this reason, he stated that just as Diplomats residing in Ghana are given diplomatic immunity, Parliamentarians also have immunities that protect them.
“There are parliamentary privileges and I ought to make sure he (Mahama Ayariga) is protected. He might be NDC but we need to be guarded by principle and respect. He isn’t above the law. Our laws give diplomatic immunity so you can’t arrest a diplomat. Same applies to parliamentarians.”
VIDEO below…