Withdrawal of Bagbin’s military protection likely to cause harm – Manasseh

Award winning journalist and Editor-in-Chief of The Fourth Estate, Manasseh Azure Awuni, has said the withdrawal of four soldiers attached to the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin amount to setting bad precedence with regards to the country’s democratic belief and tradition. 

Also, the former Multimedia journalist believes the withdrawal of the soldiers is sinister – a process he says create the impression that something harmful or evil will happen.

In an opinion piece titled, “Why the withdrawal of Bagbin’s military detail is sinister”, Mr. Awuni said conclusion can drawn from the withdrawal because “Mr. Bagbin is making the work of the government difficult in parliament”.

“What we know is that the Speaker of Parliament, Alban S.K. Bagbin, is a member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC). What we also know is that Mr. Bagbin is making the work of the government difficult in parliament. Critics say this is the most vindictive administration of the Fourth Republic.

“It is safe to connect the dots and conclude someone is being reminded that there is a greater power than the Office of the Speaker of Parliament. Someone is being reminded that many more privileges could be caused to erode from that office” he made it known in the article.

“If that wasn’t the case, why would the office of a deputy minister or chairperson of the Electoral Commission deserve military attachment, while the Office of the Speaker, who is third after the president and vice-president, doesn’t? and would the military attachment have been withdrawn if Bagbin had been an NPP Speaker of Parliament?

“Any objective watcher of these events won’t be wrong to conclude that there are sinister motives in the withdrawal of the Speaker’s military attaché. And the conflicting messages from the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ministry of National Security have not helped to dispel this.”

He further questioned why the security details of the electoral commission Chairperson, ministers, deputy ministers and some CEOs of state agencies include personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces.

“The contents of the Ghana Armed Forces letter and the press statement from the Ministry of National Security expose the disingenuous nature of the withdrawal of the soldiers. The military said they were being withdrawn so that their attachment could be regularised, but the ministry said they were not supposed to be there in the first place. Who do we believe? Would the regularisation happen or not?

“Even as we struggle to make meaning of this, can the Ministry of National Security tell us whether or not the security details of ministers, deputy ministers and some CEOs of state agencies include personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces?” he added.