Protect all Ghanaians against attacks, not only MPs – Bureau of Public Safety

The Bureau of Public Safety (BPS) has criticized the Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery, for the decision to deploy about 200 police personnel to serve as guards to Members of Parliament (MPs) for the rest of the year following the killing of Mfantseman MP, Ekow Kwansah Hayford.

BPS says that the decision is not only emotive but one that lacks the backing of credible intelligence which must indicate whether the late lawmaker was killed because of his status.

Speaking to Alfred Ocansey on 3FM‘s Sunrise morning show, Executive Drector of the Bureau Nana Yaw Akwada expressed that he was expecting the Minister to rather announce decisions that would guarantee the safety of the entire populace and not a select few.

“Our opposition to the Interior Minister’s decisions to provide MPs with personal police protection is not because we do not think that the lives of MPs matter but it is because we believe that the lives of the general population really do matter and the lives of the general public include that of MPs. If the Interior Minister can make any meaningful decision in our national life, it should be a decision that brings protection to the generality of the population,” Nana Yaw Akwada said.

He added: “We are led to conclude that this decision of the Interior Minister is not only emotive but also not backed by any credible intelligence. To the extent that we cannot establish that the MP was killed because of his status as MP and we cannot establish otherwise.”

Hon. Ekow Kwansah Hayford was killed during a robbery incident at Abeadze Dominase on the Mankessim-Abeadze road in the Central Region, at dawn on Friday, October 9.

The MP is reported to have been shot when he was returning from a campaign trip.

According to an eyewitness account, the MP was identified while the robbery was ongoing.

This, he said, ‘angered’ the robbers who then blamed him for the problems being faced by people in the country.