Mr Bernard Mornah — PNC and Mr John Amekah — LPG

Alleged coup plot: Parties share views on security

Dominic Moses Awiah Politics Sep - 27 - 2019 , 11:08 4 minutes read

Three political parties have called on Ghanaians and the two main political parties—the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to refrain from politicising security issues in the country.

However, a fourth party, the People’s National Convention (PNC), has expressed dissatisfaction with the manner and way the country security agencies conduct their affairs, indicating that their methods and procedures of communication need to be looked at.

The three parties are the Convention People’s Party (CPP), the National Democratic Party (NDP) and the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG).

Whereas the CPP, NDP and LPG explained that security issues were so delicate that any attempt to politicise it could jeopardise the country’s peace and stability, the PNC said the government “is treating the country’s security as a media relation”.
Representatives of the parties spoke to the Daily Graphic in separate interviews.

The comments from the parties come in the wake of the government’s pronouncement that two persons have been arrested in connection with a planned coup on the presidency.

The government on Friday, September 20, this year, announced that a planned attack on the Jubilee House had been detected and foiled by a combined team of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) operatives.

According to a statement issued by the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the planned attack was intended to destabilise the country and added that three people, including a gun manufacturer, had been arrested in connection with the operation.

Following the pronouncement, some security analysts have downplayed the claims of a coup plot, saying the group lacks the weapons and mass movement required to stage a successful coup.

CPP

The acting Chairperson of the CPP, Hajia Hamdatu Ibrahim, said the public must give the police the chance to work and not to attempt to read political meanings into issues of security.

On the issue of the attempted coup, she said, the manner in which communications were done could be the reason why people were politicising it.

“People expected the Ministry for the Interior to have handled the issue because they thought it was in its domain, but regardless of that, issues of national security is not a matter for the public to cast doubt on,” Hajia Ibrahim said.

She, therefore, stressed the need for the security agencies to structure their communication in such a way that the public would not politicise it.

Hajia Hamdatu Ibrahim — CPP and Mr Mohammed Frimpong — NDP

NDP

The General Secretary of the NDP, Mr Mohammed Frimpong, attributed the politicisation of security issues to what he termed as the lack of participation of the public in the governance process.

He said, “if the public is allowed to participate fully in the country’s governance process, nobody will cast doubt on national issues such as the security structure”.

Mr Frimpong also stressed the need for the security agencies to hasten slowly in coming out with information regarding the country’s security to avoid needless politicisation.

“The country’s national security must not be allowed to be politicised because it would not help Ghana’s growth,” he added.

LPG
The acting Chairman of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), Mr John Amekah called for political parties to refrain from politicising security issues to score political points.

He said security issues affected every aspect of life and it was, therefore, prudent for every Ghanaian to suggest pragmatic solutions towards ending the recent killing of police personnel and kidnapping of innocent people.

“The kind of issues being politicised in our country is so sad. In fact, one does not need to be in government or power before proffering solutions to security problems.

"If one Ghanaian dies, it affects everybody and so it saddens my heart that one will wait until his or her party comes to power before proposing solutions for security challenges," Mr Amekah stated.

PNC

Commenting on the attempted coup, the Chairman of the PNC, Mr Bernard Mornah, said the manner in which the issue was communicated appeared to have been targeted at creating fear and panic.

He said the pronouncement from government could disrupt businesses because the message had the tendency to stop foreign investors from proceeding to Ghana to do business.

“We have also created in the minds of the people that it is possible to undertake a coup. This is very wrong and the government did not do well at all,” Mr Mornah said.

Elsewhere in developed state, he said, the state would have to come out with a detailed explanation regarding the issues and not just resort to put needless fear into the people.