Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga has cautioned the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, against using the floor of Parliament to intimidate law enforcement agencies carrying out their duties.
Parliament, he said, must not become a platform for politicians to shield themselves from investigations or criminal enforcement, stressing that ‘crime is crime’, regardless of whether the accused person is a politician or an ordinary citizen.
He made the remarks during Parliament’s emergency sitting on Monday, August 25, 2026, in response to concerns raised by Mr Afenyo-Markin about the treatment of persons being investigated by security and law enforcement agencies.
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According to him, Ghana remains a country where citizens enjoy freedom of speech both inside and outside Parliament.
He, however, distinguished between exercising freedom of speech and using parliamentary platforms to put undue pressure on law enforcement institutions.
“I don’t believe that anybody should try to use this chamber or any platform to intimidate the law enforcement agencies when they are cracking down on criminal conduct. Be they conduct of politicians, of ordinary armed robbers, or of any other citizen. Crime is crime,” he said.
Mr Ayariga argued that Parliament passes laws for the country’s law enforcement agencies to implement and should therefore not undermine those institutions when they enforce the same laws.
He accused some politicians of attempting to give criminal investigations a political dimension whenever law enforcement agencies turn their attention to them.
The Majority Leader criticised what he described as an attitude among some politicians that they belong to a special category of citizens who should be protected from criminal investigations.
Politicians, he said, should be held to the same standards as ordinary citizens.
“We should not consider ourselves as politicians as being in a special class that can commit crimes and get away with it,” Mr Ayariga stated.
He questioned why ordinary citizens accused of stealing relatively small items could be prosecuted and imprisoned while politicians accused of stealing millions could seek political protection.
Mr Ayariga said such an approach would undermine Ghana’s development and weaken public confidence in the rule of law.
“When those who steal goats and fowls and guinea fowls are sent to jail, while we steal millions of Ghana citizens as politicians, we think that we belong to a special class and when law enforcement agencies come after us, we will protest,” he said.
He maintained that no one should intimidate law enforcement agencies and that they must be allowed to perform their constitutional and statutory duties without political interference.