Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, MP, South Dayi
The Member of Parliament for the South Dayi Constituency in the Volta Region, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has said the forceful removal of the former Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator and the subsequent endorsement of the act by the National Security Minister, Albert Kan Dapaah when he appeared on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, June 23 to provide answers to an urgent question filed on the state of security in the country is an endorsement of lawlessness.
Lawyer Dafeamekpor condemned the hounding of the former security coordinator, calling it unfortunate and a threat to the progress of democracy in Ghana.
“It was actually unfortunate for the National Security Minister to emphasize or to insist that if he was given the opportunity, he will follow the same processes [to remove DCOP Opare Addo] because it amounts to officialdom endorsing lawlessness.
“The issue is that an officer with National Security apparatus was supposedly terminated and as a result, he had to vacate his office but it is alleged he did not and therefore men attempted to go and forcefully remove him and change the lock to his office. We are a country of law and are governed by the rule of law so if a terminated officer within your apparatus is removed and refuses to go, then there must have been issues so you don’t go and forcefully remove him and change the locks to his office. You report his conduct to the police to be investigated. But if you send people who initially we all knew to be Delta Force members, that is an official endorsement.”
He said it is laughable how the National Security apparatus came along the line trying to justify and make the unlawful act look like it was a national security operation when it clearly was not.
“If you recall, the DCOP himself said that these were Delta Force members who were operating in Kumasi. The Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party is on recording for saying the people who committed the unlawful act may be Delta Force members but their action was sanctioned by the National Security apparatus so for National Security to now come and say they were National Security operatives is clearly an afterthought.
“It is a way of covering up for an illegality and rationalizing it and we [the National Democratic Congress] think that that need not to happen,” he stressed.
The NDC MP said his party only wants the right thing to be done because it is DCOP (rtd) Opare Addo today but it could be another tomorrow.
He further demanded that the reasons for the removal of DCOP Opare Addo be revealed to Ghanaians so such mistakes or reasons don’t happen again.
Mr Kan Dapaah, while answering questions on the floor of Parliament Wednesday, said there was nothing wrong with the way and manner in which DCOP Opare Addo was chased out of his office in May this year because “the reasons for the termination of the appointment were clearly spelt out in the letter of termination”.
“We do not think it is appropriate to say publicly what the reasons were but DCOP Opare Addo will admit that the reasons for the termination were made known to him.”
The Minister added also that any of the security outfits under his jurisdiction are yet to receive an official complaint from the victim, DCOP Opare Addo, and that until that is done, the forceful removal remains a rumour.
“Mr Speaker, to repeat, no official complaints have been made by this DCOP Opare Addo either to his immediate boss, the National Security Coordinator or to me as the sector minister regarding the alleged assault on him. Neither has the Ministry for National Security received any correspondence from the police in relation to allegations by DCOP Opare Addo. So, Speaker, I will want to assure the house of our willingness to investigate the allegation should any official complaints be made by DCOP Opare Addo.”
But speaking to Nancy Vukania on 3FM’s midday news, Mr Dafeamekpor insists conscious efforts are made to ensure this unfortunate incident doesn’t happen again.