Party supporters can’t protect state installations – Police

It does not lie in the remit of supporters of political parties to protect state installations in Ghana, Superintendent Cephas Arthur, Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, has said.

According to him, apart from the Police and other security agencies backed by law, no other person can claim to have the powers to protect state installation.

His comment comes on the back of claims by the acting National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Freddie Blay that the supporters of the NPP who stormed the passport offices and other state installations were only protecting those facilities.

Mr Blay said : “At the harbour people are stealing cars, people are carrying away items that should attract duties and so forth, containers being taken away without going through the right processes and so forth and I think people should be bold enough to say: stop what you are doing’”.

“It is your duty, my duty to stop anybody stealing even an individual property if you have good reason to know that what the person is doing amounts to stealing. If you see people stealing cars from the harbour, taking them away, are you suggesting that we should wait and go and call the police before they stop them?”

But speaking in an interview with Emefa Apawu on Class 91.3FM’s ‘505’ programme on Friday January 13, Supt Arthur said: “Its not for any group of person who don’t have the legal backing to protect state installations.

“Such responsibility is for legitimized agencies like the police.”