Are your lives more important than ours?' – Aning to MP´s

Security analyst Dr Kwesi Aning has accused MPs of exploiting the death of their colleague J B Danquah to push their age-old demand for personal police security.

"I think it's most unfair to raise this particular issue and to link it to the unfortunate death…this is using our collective heads to justify an argument that is not justifiable…" Dr Aning told Emefa Apawu on Class News' 505 programme on Tuesday February 9.

"I think the need for protection might be there, I'm not dismissing it. But you see that need for protection must be located within the generality of the public, who voted for them to go to parliament.

"Does the generality of Ghanaians feel safe as they go about their business…what has happened touches all of us and not only a particular segment.

Mr Danquah Adu was murdered Tuesday dawn. He was found by the police lying in a pool of blood in his bedroom at his Shiashie residence in the national capital, Accra. His assailant(s) got access to him through his front window via a ladder. He was survived by his wife and two children. The Police have opened investigations into the killing. Five suspects: two females and three males have been arrested for interrogation by the Police, who have urged the public to provide any information they may have that could help unravel the murder mystery.

In expressing their condolences, his fellow MPs, including Abuakwa South’s Samuel Atta Akyea, have said Mr Danquah Adu’s killing underscores their insistence that they be given personal security.

But Dr Aning asked: "How many ordinary Ghanaians as a proportion to MPs haven’t been attacked by armed robbers? …If X number of MPs have been attacked, how many ordinary Ghanaians haven’t been attacked? So, the real question is: ‘How can we improve general security so that all Ghanaians will feel secure irrespective of their position in society?'

"They [MPs] are throwing too many things into the basket, shaking it up and playing with people's emotions because we are all hurt, we are all frightened and we are all saddened that it has happened. I think that’s not the way to go about it…. Are their lives much more important than the ordinary Ghanaians who voted for them? They haven't presented a coherent cogent argument [for personal security]," Dr Aning said.

Other MPs including Albert Kan Dapaah, Dr Afriyie Akoto, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, Isaac Asiamah, Benito Owusu-Bio amongst others have been confronted by armed robbers and criminals in the past.