Parliamentary Privileges And Matters Arising

As I sat in Parliament's Committee Room yesterday I was struck by something that was said by Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah, MP for Ho West.

Bedzrah, 48, who is a Development Planner, Architect and Quantity Surveyor is the complainant in a matter before the Privileges Committee of Parliament against Professor Alex Dodoo, a member of the World Health Organisation ( WHO ) Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety.

Prof Dodoo is currently the Director at the World Health Organisation ( WHO ) Collaborating Centre for Advocacy and Training in Pharmaco vigilance at the University of Ghana, Legon.

Prof. Dodoo is reported to have asked Ghanaian Parliamentarians to ' Shut up ' if they were not knowledgeable on the issue of Ebola vaccines trials. Clearly some of the uninformed contributions in the House captured in the Hansard of June 10 and 16 must have provoked his call.

Unhappy with the Professor, the MP made a formal complaint to Parliament, which subsequently invited Prof Dodoo to appear before the Privileges Committee. At yesterday's sitting, Bedzrah gleefully quoted Article 115 of the 1992 constitution of Ghana, which states that “ there shall be freedom of speech, debate and proceedings in Parliament and that freedom shall not be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament ”.

I have no qualms with the quote, but to my dismay the Honourable member of Parliament interpeted this to mean that Parliamentarians have unfettered privileges and are more or less above criticism and questioning. Right!

Many find this line of thinking untenable in the 21st century.

Meanwhile Prof Dodoo through his counsel, Yonny Kulendi, has rendered an unqualified apology to the House if it deems his comments as offensive and capable of bringing the House into disrepute.

Kulendi noted that his client respected the Parliamentarians and the House as a whole, and would therefore not do anything to lower their esteem. On the contrary, he explained that all his client sought to do was to help the work of Parliament.

Prof Dodoo has extensive experience and global recognition in drug regulation, pharmacy, pharmacovigilance, immunization and clinical pharmacology and has served on several global boards and committees.

These include the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety of Medicinal Products, a member of the World Health Organisation ( WHO ) Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety, the CIOMS / WHO Working Group on Drug Development in Resource Poor Countries, the NIH Drug Safety and Monitoring Board ( DSMB) for HIV / AIDS trials in Africa among others.

In 2009, Prof Dodoo became the first African and the first non-European to be elected President of the International Society of Pharmacovigilance ( ISoP ), a position he held till 2012.

The proceedings continue on Thursday.