Professor Aning calls for ‘robust intervention’ by Parliament to restructure National Security

Security expert Professor Kwasi Aning of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre has challenged Parliament to intervene and cause the restructuring of the National Security set-up.

In a Citi News interview, Professor Aning said the current make-up of the National Security is a deviation from its original set-up.

He noted that the National Security as stipulated by law ought not to have an operational arm that is deployed to undertake regular activities.

Professor Aning proffered that the task of conducting arrests and other regular activities is within the purview of the police which acts under the instruction of the Inspector General of Police.

“The National Security, if we use the terminology, ought not to be an operational part of both the National Security Council and the National Security Secretariat,” he said.

“When an action is supposed to be taken, and it is a police action, then it is the IGP who does it, but if based on the assessment he feels that he will need a military, Customs or Immigration support, then all these subsidiary institutions come in to help.”

He called for an immediate intervention by Parliament to the issue, stressing that the current state of the National Security poses a great threat to the country.

“This new culture of operatives of the Secretariat, armed and engaging in hands-on operational activity is something we need to look at. It is not what ought to be, and I think what you experienced at your offices is the reflection of the misunderstanding,”

“What we have is an amorphous structure that allows these armed individuals to shift and move beneath the radar and therein lies the danger. What we need is a robust intervention by Parliament that can help resolve the matter in a way that will tackle issues such as the recruitment, access to weapons and command structure of the national security operatives.”