A security expert with the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre is calling on President John Mahama to intervene in what he described as a totally unnecessary scandal between the National Security and the University of Ghana.
Dr Kwesi Aning does not understand why the two institutions cannot use dialogue in resolving an issue as simple as the siting of a toll booth or security post on the premises of the University of Ghana.
Describing the situation as a blot on the country’s reputation, the head of Research at KAIPTC said it is time for other institutions, including the presidency to resolve the matter.
The National Security under the cover of darkness on two occasions pulled down a security post on the premises of Ghana’s premier university.
The first demolition exercise was undertaken in February, 2014 by former national security coordinator Col Larry Gbevlo-Lartey (Retired) who insisted the toll booth was going to cause unnecessary traffic at the Okponglo end of the Legon road.
The university community was incensed by the action and waged a vehement campaign to have Gbevlo-Lartey removed.
Whether by coincidence or design, President Mahama announced Yaw Donkor as the new National Security Coordinator in April and commended the out-going Security Coordinator for his “loyalty and dedicated service to the state”.
With Gbevlo-Lartey out of the way, the University of Ghana said it was in dialogue with national security over the building of the security post.
In a matter of days a new security post was hurriedly built and had reached a roofing level only for the national security, under Yaw Donkor to strike again.
The National Security again reduced the security post to rubbles under the cover of darkness.
A private security personnel hired by the university, told Joy News’ Beatrice Adu, national security personnel aided by armed police men besieged the campus around 11:00 pm and with a bulldozer they razed the security post for the second time in four months.
It is not yet clear the reason for the second demolition exercise.
Both the university authorities and the national security apparatus have been tight-lipped on the matter but Kwesi Aning told Joy News’ Francisa Kakra Forson the controversy over security post destruction is “totally unnecessary.”
He said with the university being an autonomous body and the national security wielding a lot of power, the two institutions are rather “projecting power and pride” when they could easily dialogue and resolve the issue amicably.
Dr Aning said the action by the two institutions suggests that “our institutions are incapable of dialogue.”
He said the impasse is a “blot on our reputation as a democratic country” and called on the president or powers that be to intervene.
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