'Gbevlo Lartey Is A State Enemy' – NDC

Some disgruntled members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have called for the removal of Lt. Col. Larry Gbevlo Lartey as head of the National Security.

The NDC members besieged the Kokomlemle headquarters of the NDC in Accra yesterday with placards, some of which read ‘Mills Choose 2012 Or Gbevlo Lartey,’ ‘Gbevlo Lartey Is A State Enemy’, ‘Stop Killing Our Party Spirit’, ‘Stop Fighting Our Joy Within NDC’ and ‘We Want Peace In NDC’ amidst chants of “Gbevlo must go”.

The angry NDC members said they were devastated by current developments in the party which threatened its cohesion, putting the blame at the doorstep of the National Security Coordinator, Gbevlo-Lartey.

Leader of the group, Hajia Sherifatu Sulley, who presented a six-point petition to leadership of the party, said, “as a National Security Coordinator, Gbevlo Lartey has not only succeeded in bringing disunity and hopelessness to the core of the party by his actions and inactions but has also used the national security to engage party functionaries in distractive battles.”

This was after she presented a copy of the petition to Alhaji Baba Sheriff, a national officer of the NDC.

Among the host of allegations they made was the claim that the security capo had been using the state machinery in fighting some hard core party members who had been with the NDC since their days in opposition.

They also talked about the ever-growing threat posed by Fulani herdsmen, which fostered terrorism and small arms proliferation.

The group also noted that the National Security Coordinator was doing everything in his power to ensure that his son, Nestor Gbevlo Lartey, would become the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Hohoe North constituency on the ticket of the NDC, a move that has been fiercely resisted by the constituency executives and membership.

“We believe if this dangerous phenomenon is not stopped, one can imagine the danger it poses for the unity of the party in the 2012 elections,” Hajia Sherifatu noted.

The group also accused Gbevlo Lartey of giving support to a chief in the Volta region who had openly insulted the President some months ago. Though other chiefs in the region had openly condemned the said chief, “Gbevlo goes ahead to heavily reward this insulting chief.”

“It is indeed ridiculous the way and manner our National Security apparatus, under the watch of Gbevlo-Lartey, has carried out certain functions in the recent past, notable amongst which are the unnecessary seizure of movies, ad hoc recruitment of security operatives in Aflao who are known to receive no regular incomes but for a pittance, how opposition sponsored moles within the National Security set up who also leak information back to opposition which only serves to weaken government intelligence,” they stated.