Rt. Hon. Speaker Alban S.K. Bagbin stripped off security cover
Ghana Armed Forces, GAF has withdrawn military protection for the Speaker of Parliament Alban S.K. Bagbin and his office.
The Speaker’s office has four military personnel and other security details to ensure the safety of the country’s Speaker of Parliament who is one of the most powerful persons in the country.
However, in a letter dated January 11, 2022, and signed by Major General Nicholas Peter Andoh, the Chief of Staff at the General Headquarters of GAF, the four soldiers are ordered to return to base by January 14,2022, “whiles efforts are made to regularize their attachment.
A reason stated by GAF for the withdrawal of their personnel is that the soldiers were attached to the Speaker’s office without the laid-down procedures duly followed.
Read below:
Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament has taken note of the withdrawal of four military officers posted to assist in the protection of the Rt. Hon. Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin.
The attempt to strip the Speaker off security protection is untenable. In a country that takes pride in its democratic institutions and processes, the decision to reduce the number of security personnel assigned to the Speaker detracts from the political gains that Ghana has made, and is a bad precedent.
The unknown reason for such a move is puzzling, but the real motive should be obvious to all objective observers of the political scene in Ghana. If it is an attempt to gag the Speaker, this move will serve to only widen the gap between the legislature and the other arms of government. It also hints at the possibility of a plot to place the safety and security of the Speaker in harm’s way.
The citizens of this country yearned for an effective separation of powers as well as check and balance, and voted to have a hung Parliament. They are looking for a lot more consultation, consensus building and dialogue. This move contrasts with that and certainly is a bad precedent.
In decisions such as this, we must ensure that we are guided by the overall interest of this country and the sustenance of our democracy and its institutions.
Source: africaneditors.com
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