President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Tuesday this week, ordered the immediate interdiction of Gerard Nana Osei Tutu of the Bureau of National Communications at the National Security Council, who reportedly attacked a uniformed military officer in Tema, a story which The Chronicle broke on Monday, this week.
A statement issued from the Ministry of Information, and signed by the sector Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, dated December 1, 2020, said the President of the Republic and Commander-In-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has learnt with dismay reports of an attack on a soldier by an official of the Bureau of National Communications of the National Security Council, Gerard Nana Osei Tutu.
The statement further stated that upon the President’s instruction, the Ministry of National Security has interdicted, with immediate effect, the said Mr Gerard Nana Osei Tutu and commenced full investigations into the incident.
The statement also noted that the military constitutes a key player in the country’s security architecture, and any infringement on the institution and its officers would not be tolerated.
The Chronicle is happy that the President quickly intervened to avert a serious crisis on the security front. Some of the military personnel were reportedly not happy with the conduct of the National Security operative and were plotting revenge. However, a timely intervention by the Ministry of National Security, which officials held a durbar with the soldiers at Michel Camp, helped to stop the intended action.
For President Akufo-Addo to also intervene after the initial ground work by his ministers tells the gravity of the offence committed by the said National Security official. Per our laws, only the President, Vice President, Speaker of Parliament, Chief Justice and a few state institutions are permitted to use sirens on our roads.
Unfortunately, it has become common now-a-days to see those driving Toyota Land Cruisers V8 using sirens and meandering their way through heavy traffic.
Even police officers on our roads are always afraid to stop these vehicles for fear that the occupants might be ‘big men’ in government. What is even annoying is that sometimes some of these Land Cruiser owners will be on their way to attend a funeral, which has nothing to do with government work, yet they put on their sirens and expect the road users to give them priority.
It has not been disclosed the government officials or security personnel the National Security operative and his colleagues were escorting, but since the said ‘big man’ was certainly not the President, his Vice, Speaker of Parliament or CJ, what was the basis in attacking the soldier in the full glare of the public for obstructing traffic, thereby subjecting him to ridicule?
Again, if this man was not a soldier but a civilian, he would have received punishment in its severest form before being dumped in cells, when it is obvious that he could not have given way to the so-called ‘security escort’ because of the nature of the road at that particular section of the Tema-Akosombo-Ho highway.
It appears to us that some of our security personnel are abusing the state power given them, and this is very dangerous. When the oppressed decide to react, it is more deadly than an atomic bomb, and these security personnel must know this.
The fact that state power is in one’s hands does not mean he or she should abuse it or use it to harass the very people who gave him/her the power.
It is our hope that Mr Albert Kan Dapaah, the sector Minister, will henceforth rein in the erring officials, because it does not speak well of his image and that of the government.
The post Editorial: Kan Dapaah must rein in his boys appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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