In January, 2008, former President John Agyekum Kufuor got ‘mad’ with his security capo Francis Poku. He disgracefully sacked him to the surprise of the security community and persons within and outside his government.
Spin doctors led by Oboshie Sai-Coffie used all sorts of manipulative subterfuge to deliberately justify what appeared to be an ‘irrational decision’ by Kufuor. So many reasons were provided to justify Poku’s dismissal.
However, for security capos, it was evident that Kufuor was livid that Mr. Poku had breached his government’s security by sponsoring an operative for training in Israel without his knowledge.
Checks by concerned Security Analysts revealed that Kufuor got scared upon learning that one Brigadier-General Robert Sackey, then Head of the Military Intelligence had been sent by Francis Poku on a training program in Israel. Further checks revealed that General Sackey had attended a National Security and Strategic Studies Seminar organized by the Galilee International Management Institute in Israel.
It was obvious Kufuor was scared to learn that General Sackey was trained in a program handled by Israeli Experts such as Brigadier- General (Rtd) Lipid, Colonel (Ret.) Yehezkeally, Colonel Caspi, Dr. Brigadier-General Ben-Ari, Professor Ben-Dor, and Captain (Navy) Keiman.
What was Kufuor’s reaction to what seemed to be an effort to train a fellow Ghanaian in Israel? On that fateful day, Saturday 12th January at about 8,30am, the national security boss’s house was surrounded by hordes of sharpshooters under the joint command of General J.B Danquah and IGP Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong, under the guise of dragging him to a safe house for debriefing.
It was reported that Francis Poku had also rebuffed Kufuor’s decision and threatened a shootout if any attempt was made to arrest him. That created a dangerous tinderbox!
There was a tense moment which was only diffused by the bravery of Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Editor of the Insight Newspaper and Owula Mangortey, a Traditionalist from Shai-Osudoku, who armed with only their telephones and loud mouths evaded watchful eyes of the security cordon to enter Poku’s residence where they raised an alarm on radio stations.
So if an experienced leader like Kufuor frowns on a training program in Israel to the extent of risking the sacking of his security capo, Francis Poku, why will Nana Akufo-Addo and the leadership of the NPP want to compromise the security of Ghana by inviting South African mercenaries to train their NPP apparatchiks in guerilla warfare without the prior knowledge of Government?
The very simple questions which Security Analysts are asking in the wake of the NPP’s invitation of South African Stormtroopers to train the NPP apparatchiks:
• If Kufuor saw the serious implications of training General Sackey in Israel, why will Ghanaians countenance the current NPP leaders’ invitation to South African Troopers to train NPP apparatchiks?
• Should Kufuor not come out like a true Statesman to condemn the actions of the NPP leadership and school them on the serious potential breach to National Security by this irresponsible training program contracted by the NPP and its leader, Akufo-Addo?
• Should Ghanaians not be very concerned with the serious implications of having documents detailing the operations of the Electoral Commission’s contractor STL, in the possession of the South Africans?
• It will be recalled that the EC contracted the STL to transmit collated results to the EC during the 2012 elections. So for what reasons were the South Africans in possession of the profiles of past and present STL workers?
• Do the South Africans intend to compromise /manipulate STL workers to NPP’s advantage in the upcoming November 2016 elections?
• Some speak about diplomatic row, but would South Africa have looked on if the scenario was reversed?
Security Analysts will urge Ghanaians not to reduce the discussion on the NPP sponsored security training to one of protection of Akufo-Addo, Bawumia and other NPP VIPs. The Government must be thorough in getting to the bottom of this matter. After all, national security is key to government operations to ensure its continued existence. Ghana’s national security interests override the whims of the NPP political leaders. There is a high expectation of proper management and proper leadership in handling these security matters.
