2020 polls: Bryan Acheampong is a cause for concern – Security analyst

Security analyst Adib Saani says Ghanaians should be worried over the new position given Bryan Acheampong at the Interior Ministry by President Akufo-Addo as the country nears the December polls.

According to him, past actions of the now Minister of State at the Interior ministry must be a cause of concern for Ghanaians.

“It is evident that the President doesn’t have the balls to deal with him. He is certainly a person for us to be very wary of because of his past actions.

“If you look at what is going on, it is completely needless for us to have a minister of state at the Ministry of Interior. This appointment is needless, it is a job for the boys. I will advocate that it is revoked,” he told Starr News on Thursday.

The President has named the Minister of State in Charge of National Security, Bryan Acheampong, as the new Minister of State at the Ministry of Interior.

The reshuffle was announced in a statement by Communications Director at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin.

As part of the reshuffle, the deputy Minister of Interior, Henry Quartey is now the Deputy Minister of the National Security.

Meanwhile, The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has described the appointment as a slap in the face of the Emile Short Commission which probed the violent Ayawaso by-election.

Commenting on the changes, the NDC general secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia said: “I think that is a slap in the face of the Emile Short Commission. And I believe it is a cog in the whole orchestration to rig the election. This is somebody who deployed thugs to create mayhem at a bye-election. A commission was established and the commission declared that action unlawful and recommended that the group he commanded be disbanded and he himself punished.

“What the President has done is to tell the Short Commission to go to hell and everyone worried about vigilantism to go to hell. This action is going to legitimise the action of Brian Acheampong and also give him the legitimate authority to deploy the thugs they’ve trained and embedded in the police service to now go and be deployed for election security and you know what it means.

The Short Commission which probed the Ayawaso by-election violence recommended that Mr. Acheampong take “ultimate responsibility” for the operation which resulted in the shooting of six people, leaving several others injured.

“The Commission recommends that Mr. Bryan Acheampong be reprimanded for his ultimate responsibility as Minister in authorising an operation of that character and on a day of an election in a built up area,” the report presented to President Akufo-Addo said.