Soldiers have no business carrying bags of lawyers – Prof Gyampo laments

Professor Ransford Yaw Gyampo says it is not the duty of any soldier to be carrying the bag of a private legal practitioner to court.

According to him, their core duty is to defend the territorial integrity of the country, which does not include “body-guarding civilian appointees”.

Prof Ransford Gyampo’s comments come after photos of a military man in camouflage uniform carrying the books and bag of Lawyer Frank Davis, a private legal practitioner, went viral on social media.

Frank Davis is a member of the Akufo-Addo legal team defending him in the ongoing election petition hearing brought by John Dramani Mahama to contest the declaration of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as president-elect.

Davis appeared to have used the soldier as a personal aid at the Supreme Court on Thursday, January 28.

In a post on his Facebook timeline, Prof. Gyampo, the popular Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, noted that the action of the soldier is what “demoralizes the Police and causes their public disrespect”.

He advised, “If we think the Police is weak and can no longer offer such services as providing security for appointees and private people, the way to go is to strengthen them and check how we recruit people there.”

“We have no business 'civilianizing' our soldiers. It would come back to haunt us,” he stressed.