{"id":726885,"date":"2019-10-19T12:38:59","date_gmt":"2019-10-19T12:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2019\/10\/19\/security-ministry-rubbishes-mahama-asutuare-training\/"},"modified":"2019-10-19T12:38:59","modified_gmt":"2019-10-19T12:38:59","slug":"security-ministry-rubbishes-mahama-asutuare-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/10\/19\/security-ministry-rubbishes-mahama-asutuare-training\/","title":{"rendered":"Security Ministry Rubbishes Mahama Asutuare Training"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

John Mahama<\/strong><\/p>\n

The
\nMinistry of National Security has rubbished claims by former President John
\nMahama that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is training vigilantes to
\ncause chaos during the 2020 general election.<\/p>\n

A
\nstatement issued by the ministry and signed by Major (Rtd.) Ignatius Awuni,
\nHead of Public Information Department, said, \u201cNational Security Council
\nSecretariat has taken note of allegations that the National Security Training
\nSchool at Asutuare is being used to train party vigilante groups ahead of the
\n2020 general election.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe
\nSecretariat hereby informs the public that this allegation is false and a
\ndeliberate effort to create false impressions about standard training programmes
\nof national security recruits.\u201d<\/p>\n

The
\nstatement added that \u201csince 2009, recruits into this outfit have been provided
\nwith standard training. No persons other than regular national security staff
\nare trained by the Secretariat at the facility.\u201d<\/p>\n

The
\nstatement also said, \u201cThe makers of these allegations who are immediate past
\ngovernment officials are very familiar with these training programmes even
\nincluding similar ones conducted during their tenure. It is, therefore,
\nunfortunate for such persons to seek to bastardize these standard and routine
\ntraining exercises for political ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

It
\nsaid that \u201cthe Secretariat assures the general public that it will at all times
\nensure that it works to promote rather than undermine the security of the
\nstate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asutuare Training<\/strong><\/p>\n

The
\nformer President, who is the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC)
\ncandidate for the 2020 presidential election whilst addressing executives of
\nthe Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in Accra recently, claimed that the NPP
\ngovernment was training some of its members at Asutuare for Election 2020.<\/p>\n

He
\nsaid specifically, \u201cSince then, we have evidence that
\nthose people have been to Asutuare and trained in batches over and over again
\nin all kinds of combat techniques and other things,\u201d adding \u201cit\u2019s a worry that
\nAyawaso West Wuogon will be repeated on a larger scale than it did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis
\nwas only a by-election but the way things are going and from what we are
\nhearing, it is possible that some sinister force is preparing to wreak violence
\nduring the [general] elections and this is something that we must look at,\u201d he
\npointed out.<\/p>\n

Large Scale Violence<\/strong><\/p>\n

He
\nhad also said he was hoping that the violence that occurred during the Ayawaso
\nWest Wuogon by-election on January 31 would not be repeated on a larger scale
\nin 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe
\nremember what happened in Ayawaso West Wuogon. I pray that, God forbid, nothing
\nlike that ever happens again. But you know the issue of vigilantes, especially
\none party is training vigilantes,\u201d he said, adding \u201cI remember at the time of
\nAyawaso West Wuogon, there was a letter that came out asking party executives
\nto bring able-bodied people to be trained as security.\u201d<\/p>\n

NPP\u2019s Response<\/strong><\/p>\n

Earlier,
\nthe ruling NPP stated categorically that it is not training any militia to
\ndisrupt the 2020 general election and accused former President Mahama of
\npeddling falsehood.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Mahama The Ministry of National Security has rubbished claims by former President John Mahama that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is training vigilantes to cause chaos during the 2020 general election. A statement issued by the ministry and signed by Major (Rtd.) Ignatius Awuni, Head of Public Information Department, said, \u201cNational Security Council […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":702197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-726885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nSecurity Ministry Rubbishes Mahama Asutuare Training - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/10\/19\/security-ministry-rubbishes-mahama-asutuare-training\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Security Ministry Rubbishes Mahama Asutuare Training - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"John Mahama The Ministry of National Security has rubbished claims by former President John Mahama that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is training vigilantes to cause chaos during the 2020 general election. 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