A security consultant Mustapha Gbande has described the hooded men who stormed Ayawaso West Wuogon during the by-election last week as a bunch of criminals.
According to him, the contradictory reports surrounding where the armed men in balaclavas were deployed from and their mission at the constituency lend credence to his assertion.
Gun shots from the masked men at the residence of parliamentary candidate for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) left about 18 people wounded and the party boycotting the process. NDC MP for Ningo Prampram Sam George was also assaulted by the men who were using police SWAT branded vehicles.
The Ghana Police Service has, however, denied knowledge of the presence of the men in the constituency. Speaking on the Weekly Review on Morning Starr with Francis Abban, Mr. Gbande said the men must be fished out and dealt with in accordance with the law.
“Now we have contradictory information from the NPP, some are saying they are national security operatives. The Ghana Police service is saying we don’t know them. So which is which? Where from those guys? I think that it was a criminal enterprise executed by hoodlums with criminal motives. We should be concerned about looking for these guys and letting the laws of the land deal with them,” Gbande stated.
The security consultant said the development undermines the credibility of the country’s security set up.
“Yesterday I didn’t sleep because I asked myself Francis, if you are in your house and suddenly some people appear and they say they are from the Ghana police service wearing police uniform, how do you know that they are the proper police we have? So somebody can just appear in your house and pick you up in the name of police. It’s a worry and a threat to our democracy,” he said.
Gbande charged the police high command to swiftly deal with the issue in order to restore public confidence in the service.
“First of all I think that this whole thing rests on the doorsteps of the IGP. He has the duty to restore the integrity and public confidence in the police service.”
Minister of state in charge of National Security Bryan Acheampong has stated the hooded men were deployed from his outfit. The Inspector General of Police has since instituted a probe into the incident. CSOs both local and international have all condemned the incident last week Thursday.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/Ibrahim Alhassan
