How Francis Poku Left Accra

A WAVE OF CONTROVERSY has begun blowing over the circumstances under which former National Security Minister Francis Poku left Accra for abroad in the face of emerging information that he virtually had to leave the country without notice to the Ghanaian authorities and on an ordinary Ghanaian passport after his diplomatic passport was withdrawn as part of what Government says was a ?debriefing? exercise.

Critics have, however, said there was more to the ?debriefing? exercise and have suggested that everything about it was tantamount to a house arrest of the former chief intelligence officer of the Kufuor administration, despite government?s insistence that there was nothing more to the exercise than an operation which went wrong because of over-enthusiasm on the part of the operational officers.

Now, critics say the confession by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong, that there was no love lost between him and the former National Security capo, whom he sent his officers to ?protect? on the day of the ?debriefing? exercise last week Wednesday, and the subsequent circumstances under which Mr Poku left Accra over the weekend is an indication that there is more to the charade which has so far played in the media through selective leaks and twists to events and facts.

Mr Poku is believed to have left the country through the Ivorian border on an ordinary Ghanaian passport on the night of Friday, January 18, 2008, barely 48 hours after his diplomatic passport was reportedly withdrawn and after a meeting with his former boss, President John Agyekum Kufuor, and the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, at the HIPC Junction residence of the President Wednesday night.

Sources say Mr. Poku, who had initially expressed an aversion to visiting the President?s residence after he was relieved of his post two Saturdays ago drove into the residence with the highly respected Otumfuo, barely 24-hours after he had visited the Asantehene, Okyehene, Nana Amoatia Ofori Panin and NPP flagbearer, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo.

His departure from the country came a day after the jaw dropping bombshell by the IGP last week Thursday on Accra-based PEACE FM?s Kokrokoo Morning Show hosted by Kwami Sefa-Kayi that there was no love lost between him and the man who was until the week prior to last Thursday, his superior.

The IGP?s revelations, which left many listeners shocked and panellists on the programme numbed, also confirmed suspicion that the presence of heavily armed military personnel at the residence of the former National Security Minister the previous day was the result of bad blood between Mr. Poku, the IGP and other elements within the ruling administration.

But what was more worrying for many was not the admission by the IGP that he has some scores to settle with the man he told listeners he sent the police to protect.

For many, the worry was over revelations and suggestions that the national security set-up had been manufacturing stories on ex-president Jerry John Rawlings; an allegation that saw some NDC activists laughing all the way to the bank over what they saw as an appropriate vindication of their founder.

?Did you hear what the IGP said? You see how they have turned Rawlings into a political tool which they have been using against themselves. We?d respond to them at the appropriate time? noted someone from the Rawlings household, who blamed the Kufuor administration for what he termed the agenda to demonise Rawlings in a chat with the Managing Editor of this newspaper minutes after the IGP had faulted his former superior for what he called ?lies about him going to Rawlings? home at Adjirigano, near East Legon, a suburb of Accra.

The IGP who called Mr. Poku names and said his outfit had lied and perpetrated lies about him and others to higher authorities, has since apologised on OMAN FM for losing his cool and betraying his anger on radio.

Though it is widely believed that Mr. Poku caught a flight from Abidjan, the Ivorian capital, to London, UK, to avoid the protection of police forces controlled by the IGP, Deputy Minister for Information, Mr Frank Agyekum suggested on radio this week that the former Security Minister left for a routine cataract treatment in South Africa.

He also denied reports that Mr. Poku has flown to the UK to cool off following mediation between the former minister and President Kufuor by the Asantehene, Osei Tutu II.

Mr. Agyekum said he had been informed that Mr. Poku had planned his trip to South Africa long before his removal from office and the subsequent furore at his residence last Wednesday when a large retinue of police officers stormed the place.

The Deputy Minister, however, admitted that he was unaware of where Mr. Poku was outside Ghana and how he left the country, though he suggested that he had no reason to believe that he did not leave the country the same way most Ghanaians do when they are travelling: Through the Kotoka International Airport.

Mr. Agyekum also explained that there are no restrictions on the former National Security Minister?s movement and indicated that Mr. Poku has handed over to the new National Security Co-ordinator and insisted that Mr. Poku has never been under house arrest.

It is as of now unclear when the former National Security Minister would return to Ghana.

Mr. Francis Poku, who joined Ghana?s security services in the 1970s, started his career with the then Special Branch, now Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).

He was made Accra Regional Commander of the Special Branch before joining the Fraud Squad of the Ghana Police Service. Later, he was transferred to Wa as the Divisional Commander of Police.

In 1982, he went into exile in London after the December 31, 1981 overthrow of the Hilla Limann government by Jerry Rawlings only to return at the invitation of the Kufuor administration in 2001 to take an appointment as the National Security Co-ordinator.

He was elevated to the position of National Security Minister in 2005.