BNI 'harasses' Madina Assembly officials for enforcing laws against unapproved building

The La Nkwantanang-Madina Municipal Assembly, has become embroiled in a tense standoff with the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) over an unauthorised building project at Oyarifa, amid allegations of abuse of power, unlawful arrests and detention.

The dispute centres on a nearly completed property said to belong to a senior BNI official, which municipal authorities insist was being constructed without the requisite permits in breach of the Local Government Act.

According to sources within the Assembly, the property owner had earlier made enquiries about the cost of obtaining a building permit and was issued with the appropriate bill. However, he allegedly failed to make any payment and proceeded with construction regardless, with the structure now close to completion.

Officials further claim that the owner, despite being a senior law enforcement officer, ignored repeated directives to regularise the development through due process and went ahead, as if under pressure to complete the project swiftly.

The Herald has gathered that Assembly officials made approximately ten separate visits to the site in an attempt to compel compliance, all of which proved unsuccessful. The situation escalated on Thursday, 9 April 2026, when enforcement officers returned to the site and found work still ongoing.

In response, the officers confiscated ten doors from the building site, which were yet to be fixed, and transported them to the Assembly’s offices in Madina as a temporary enforcement measure intended to compel the owner to report and fulfil the legal requirements.

However, the following day, Friday, 10 April, operatives from the BNI, accompanied by police officers, stormed the Assembly’s premises around midday, and arrested two senior officials, Mohammed Danjumah Ahmed, the Municipal Engineer and Richard Bekoe, in what municipal authorities have described as an unlawful operation.

The arrests reportedly took place in the presence of a senior officer, Abena Kyei.

Sources say the operatives confiscated personal belongings, including mobile phones, keys and wallets, from the two officers and transported them in two official cars to separate locations, one to the BNI office at Kawukudi, near the 37 Military Hospital, and the other to the BNI headquarters at Ridge.

A third car took the doors away.

The municipal officers were accused of unlawfully removing items from the building site.

It is further alleged that they were interrogated, statements were prepared for them, and they were compelled to append their signatures. Their phones remained seized to prevent communication with external parties.

The Municipal Chief Executive, Ibrahim Faila Fussein, is said to have intervened by making a series of urgent telephone calls and visiting the BNI headquarters.

Mohammed Danjumah Ahmed, the Municipal Engineer, was released after approximately two hours, while the other was held until late in the evening.

Sources indicate that mounting pressure on the BNI, including threats of media exposure, forced the operatives to release the second officer, Richard Bekoe, who was eventually handed over to the MCE at TV3’s premises in Accra.

Also involved in the frantic effort to secure the two’s release was another official, Abdul Razak Ibrahim, said to be the Presiding Member of the Assembly. Abena Kyei, the immediate boss of the detainees, was also said to have played an active role in their release.

Both officials were later instructed to report back to the BNI on Monday, 13 April, and they complied.

The incident has raised concerns within local government circles about the enforcement of municipal regulations and the extent of authority exercised by state security agencies in matters deemed civil or administrative.

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