Must Jean Mensa be protected by gun-toting soldiers like North Korean Leader? – Kofi Bentil asks

Vice President of IMANI-Africa, Lawyer Kofi Bentil is wondering why the head of Ghana’s Electoral Commission, Madam Jean Mensa is being followed about by army men in uniform toting guns like she is the North Korean leader.

Security arrangements around the Commissioner has become a topic of discussion following images and videos indicating how she now goes about her business with close protection from several armed uniformed military men, as seen during her appearances at the Supreme Court in the ongoing election petition.

Private legal practitioner and a senior member of the New Patriotic Party, Gabby Asare Otchere Darko in a recent post on social media justified the security arrangement provided for the Commissioner and questioned why some people have taken issues with the arrangement.

“This woman, the returning officer for the presidential election, has had her life threatened multiple times from all manner of corners, her character insulted, her integrity denigrated and the threats to her life heightened to the highest dangerous point that any public servant should endure, and for the security services to consider it appropriate to offer her the highest form of protection they could.

"Her security at home, office and around her 24-7, is made up of a combination of soldiers and police. I am not sure she enjoys the security attention. But she understands she has to endure it. And, some of us have a problem with that?” Mr Otchere Darko questioned.

The post has attracted several reactions from people disagreeing and agreeing with Mr. Otchere Darko and amongst those who reacted is Mr Kofi Bentil.

Mr Bentil like others who have had issues with Madam Jean Mensa’s security wonders why it is not the police who are handling her security and again asked why her security arrangement is so overt.

According to him “there is no problem with giving her the utmost security but must it be army men in army uniform toting guns and walking beside her like the North Korean leader?.”

“The most protected man on earth doesn’t make his security so overt and there is nothing the army men are doing here that Police cannot do, and there is no need for the open arms carriage in public especially the courts! Even the US President's security is more discreet,” he adds.