Ghanaians living in fear; reform security architecture to boost confidence – Charismatic Bishops’ Conference

The Ghana Charismatic Bishops’ Conference has called for an immediate reformation of the country’s security system.

This, the Conference says, has become necessary owing to the increasing lack of public confidence, particularly in the Ghana Police Service.

According to the Conference, recent events have made it clear that the “nation’s security system is not properly set up.”

The comments come following the arrest of Citi FM and Citi TV’s journalist, Caleb Kudah, and the subsequent raid of the premises by national security operatives.

According to the Conference, the citizenry is gradually losing faith in the security agencies, partly because they are unable to get the police to respond to emergencies or receive little police action on reported crimes.

The General Secretary of the Ghana Charismatic Bishops’ Conference, Rev. Kwesi Deh in a Citi News interview called for an immediate reformation the security architecture to boost public confidence.

“The first thing I will say we have noticed is the amount of fear and trauma the people have to live with. Sometimes not so much because they have suffered a particular attack but just the fear of it happening. For example, if a neighbuor of yours gets an attack, you are likely to be afraid of being the next victim.”

“So it is one thing being the victim of an attack, but it is a whole other thing constantly living under this cloud of fear. Almost every Ghanaian is forced to live under fear of the breakdown of security in the country. The other thing is also that, it is obvious that the security system is not properly set up, and one of the benchmarks we’ve set for it is the ease of reaching the police. There is still one number that is commonly known to Ghanaians to easily access the police which we must quickly look at.”

Background
Mr. Caleb Kudah was arrested at the National Security Ministry on May 11, 2021, for filming abandoned MASLOC vehicles parked at the premises of the Ministry.

He was at the Ministry to verify a claim by an official of MASLOC that all the cars procured by the agency had been given out.

This was after Caleb Kudah had complained about the wastage of public funds on social media.

A team of heavily-armed SWAT police officers subsequently were dispatched to arrest Citi News‘ Zoe Abu-Baidoo Addo at the premises of Citi FM/Citi TV.

Meanwhile, three police officers involved in the attack on Caleb Kudah, have been withdrawn from the National Security Ministry.

They are also to face disciplinary action from the Ghana Police Service.

“The three (3) police officers involved have been withdrawn and are to report to the Ghana Police Service for investigation and disciplinary action,” a statement from the Ministry of National Security and signed by the sector minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah stated.

It has also withdrawn the secondment of its Director of Operations, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Agyeman.

“The secondment of Lieutenant Colonel Frank Agyeman (Director of Operations) at the Ministry has been reversed. The officer is to report to the Chief of Defence for further investigations and appropriate action.”

This was after the Ministry, instituted an investigation into the assault, also concluded that the actions of its operatives violated the Ministry’s operating standards.