By Gifty Boateng
The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Tafo constituency, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, found himself in a rather embarrassing situation on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, June 4.
The two-time MP and legal professional was seemingly caught off guard, displaying a shocking lack of knowledge regarding the basic tenets of a search warrant.
Assafuah, a New Patriotic Party (NPP) stalwart, attempted to corner the Minister for the Interior, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, about the specifics of recent search warrants.
These warrants have been the bane of many former officials from the erstwhile government and members of the NPP, who the current John Mahama administration believes have skeletons in their closets.
Recent high-profile targets of these warrants include the Bank of Ghana (BoG) governor, Dr. Ernest Addison, former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, and even the Ashanti Regional chairman of the NPP, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako (though the latter famously refused entry).
The NPP MP expressed deep concern over the “modus operandi” of security agencies, questioning whether these warrants allowed officers to rummage through even the fridges of accused persons.
“Honourable Minister,” Assafuah queried, “I would want to confirm from you and maybe for purposes of education… you indicated to us that the National Security secured a search warrant. May you tell me the scope of the search warrant, if it is inclusive of searching fridges of persons? I want to understand the scope of such a search?”
However, First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Bernard Ahiafor, who was presiding in the Speaker’s absence, swiftly interjected. A seasoned lawyer himself, Ahiafor refused to let the Minister, who also oversees National Security, dignify the question with an answer.
Instead, Ahiafor, with years of legal experience under his belt, turned the tables on the Tafo MP, openly questioning if, as a practicing lawyer, Assafuah genuinely did not understand what a search warrant entailed.
The Deputy Speaker then proceeded to educate his junior colleague, emphasizing that search warrants have no limits and that officers are well within their rights to search anywhere and everywhere within an individual’s residence.
“Your question is whether or not the search warrant includes searching what?” Ahiafor pressed. “But you are a lawyer, you have seen a search warrant before. Does a search warrant specify that you search the pockets or what?”A visibly unenthused Assafuah rose again, insisting that the Minister be allowed to clarify.
“Mr. Speaker, I think this is unfair, it is a direct question addressed to the Minister. I want to understand the scope, the particular search warrant he got, is it inclusive of them searching fridges of persons? That is the question I am asking so he should let me know that, maybe refrigerators cannot be searched.”
But Ahiafor held his ground, branding the question “bogus” coming from a practicing legal professional. He sternly advised the Tafo MP to either ask a different question or simply take his seat.
“You see, Honourable Assafuah, if this question was coming from a non-lawyer… but you have seen a copy of a search warrant before. If a warrant is issued to search your house, the warrant will not specify whether they should search your pockets your fridge, your kitchen, is that the content of a warrant?
Please, if you have another question ask,” the Atwima South constituency MP stated, eliciting a wave of spontaneous laughter across the chamber.