The Tamale South MP, Haruna Iddrisu has called for a case to be made on whether parliamentary emergencies cannot be a justification for a Member of Parliament to stay out of court.
He says within the realm of the doctrine of separation of powers, it is only when an MP is ill and indisposed that they can be excused.
But speaking at the Tamale High Court where he had come to solidarise with the MP for Savelugu, Iddris Jacob Abdulai who was in court in relation to alleged possession of arms without lawful authority, Mr Iddrisu said there was the need for a strong case to be made for MPs staying out of court because of parliamentary emergencies.
He said the Savelugu MP could not have stayed away from parliament because he had to represent the people of Savelugu.
“He had to be in the House of Parliament to exercise his representative role as MP for Savelugu to vote on some tax legislations. The judge did not find that convincing enough and thus applied the law. But according to Haruna, there is need to see how to evolve our democracy and our jurisdictional law further.
The lawmaker assured Ghanaians that Mr Jacob Abdulai Iddris was a responsible, elected member of parliament who will never be a fugitive from justice.
“He probably did not exercise good judgement in the reason he provided to the court which did not please My Lord, but subsequently we have to avoid a third occurrence and sure he has been advised, “he said.
The MP for Savelugu is standing trial for two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm.