Kan Dapaah justifies BNI overhaul

National Security Minister-designate Albert Kan Dapaah says deliberate plans went into the refocusing of the erstwhile Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to meet its mandate.

“We thought they were not doing enough in terms of intelligence,” he admitted, observing that on a number of occasions the Bureau was carrying out operations the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service should take.

To that end, he said personnel were brought in to boost the analytical operations of the investigative body aside its intelligence operations.

Mr Kan Dapaah made this known during his vetting on Wednesday, February 10.

He was answering a question posed by Member of Parliament for Ablekuma West Constituency Ursula Owusu-Ekuful on what informed the change of name from BNI to National Investigations Bureau (NIB).

“Today, we don’t have the NIB only collecting intelligence, we also have in place a well, good trained team who analyse [intelligence],” he said, adding that the situation culminated in the change of name as well.

“Complete refocusing it is, Hon Chairman,” he stressed.

Mr Kan Dapaah also justified the incessant deployment of the military as personal bodyguards for some statesmen, claiming it has been a strategy for sometime now.

“Anywhere you have seen soldiers having to protect a particular individual, it is because, in our assessment and assessment of security experts, there is the need for such support to be given to that particular person.

“This is a decision normally taken by the security agencies. For instance, when we have a report that a particular individual has a problem and people are after his life, and we think there is a danger, we come in to provide support.”