Member of Parliament for Asante Akyem North, Andy Appiah-Kubi, has defended the proposed Legislative Instrument (L.I) that would grant MPs and judges the authority to use sirens and drive without speed limits.
The amendment to the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 (LI 2180), recently presented in Parliament, has faced criticism from the public.
Speaking to the press at Parliament, Appiah-Kubi, a member of the subsidiary legislation committee, justified the amendment by stating it aims to address the urgent needs of MPs in carrying out their duties.
“We have witnessed situations where some members of parliament, even state ministers and even some judges have been arrested on the road because they are trying to meet their work schedule
And you go to the police, you go to the Attorney General, and you go to the IGP. He says that I implement the law as given and that I cannot help the situation because the law says that
“So the remedy is to amend the law to make it lawful for people like that to be able to have special access where necessary,” he said
He emphasised that these privileges would be used responsibly and argued against the negative portrayal of MPs, labelling it unjust.
“And indeed, when you are driving on the road in the early hours of the day or late hours of the day, you don’t need any sirens or you don’t need any special access. It is when there is congestion on the road and there is also the need for you to meet deadlines by way of time, that need will arise.
““And when it does arise, it is to do your assigned duty for Mother Ghana. So I don’t see why we have to impugn hatred, impugn jealousy, impugn mistrust into the provision. It is omnibus and it covers a lot of institutions, so attempts to single out one particular institution for rebuke is not fair” he fumed.