Colonel Festus Aboagye (retired), a security analyst, has faulted the decision by the government to provide security for Members of Parliament following the death of the MP for Mfantseman.
Colonel Aboagye was talking to Nana Yaa Mensah on The Asaase Breakfast Show (ABS) after the government’s decision to provide security for legislators following the murder of the MP for Mfantseman last Friday (9 October).
The late Ekow Hayford was murdered gruesomely by unknown assailants last Friday while returning from a campaign tour.
Rethink decision
The security analyst wants the government to look again at its decision to provide security to MPs because this could create a void in security provision for the general public.
If MPs have been given 200 policemen and if, in the foreseeable future, we are going to multiply that to 800 at home and at work, they are going to have protection, he said.
Colonel Aboagye however asked what leaders are going to do about the other side of the equation.
“I find it a bit disturbing that the class that we have elected to represent us are now looking after their interest and not the interest of the wider society,” he said.
Ekow Hayford’s death has reignited the debate about the need to provide security for MPs in their day-to-day activities.
On Tuesday, the Minister of the Interior, Ambrose Dery, told Parliament that the government has deployed 200 police personnel to Parliament to protect MPs in the wake of the MP’s murder.
The announcement has generated mixed reactions from Ghanaians. Some believe the security and welfare of the average citizen must also be treated as a priority.
No sound statistical basis
Colonel Aboagye believes the decision to provide individual security for the MPs must be backed by statistics and not offered as a knee-jerk reaction to Ekow Hayford’s death.
“We need to look at the statistics. We cannot run away from that [because] only two MPs have died since 2016.
“But many more people from society have died. As suggested elsewhere, we don’t even know the causes, the reasons those people were [allegedly] targeted.
“The late MP [Ekow Kwansah Hayford of Mfantseman], if he died as a result of a highway robbery attack, what about the other people, including his driver? Were they targeted and why?” Colonel Aboagye asked.
Fred Dzakpata
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