CDS ordered to probe military invasion of Parliament

National Security Minister-designate Albert Kan Dapaah has revealed that the President and other government officials were unhappy that soldiers stormed the legislature during the election of the Speaker for the 8th Parliament.

He told the Appointments Committee of Parliament during his vetting on Wednesday, February 10 that the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) has been asked to investigate the matter for the appropriate measures to be taken.

“This is obviously a strange thing when you have soldiers going into parliamentary chamber for whatever reason. When I saw it, I was also alarmed, my colleagues were alarmed, all of us in government were alarmed that something like that has happened. So I did take the trouble to find out how it happened.

“Somebody, a commander, in his opinion, thought that things were getting out of hand in the chamber and that they needed to go there to try to restore order.

“I posed the question, what order? Did you think your presence there was going to frighten the Members of Parliament? No! You were not going to be able to frighten them. Were you going to arrest them? No. You couldn’t have arrested them.

“So I asked why? What was the motivation? I can only say that this is not something that should have happened. Going forward this is not something that we should encourage.”

He added: “The CDS has been asked to investigate the matter and to take the appropriate action if he also comes to the conclusion that what was done was unprofessional.”

Scores of Ghanaians including former President John Mahama condemned the military invasion of Parliament.

“The recent use of the military in civil democratic processes has become a major worry and gives the impression that this administration is continually seeking to resurrect the exorcised ghosts of our military past,” Mr Mahama tweeted.

“Parliament must conduct an investigation into the two incidents and exact appropriate sanctions.”