Minister for National Security must be wary of his involvement in the Kumawu Chieftaincy dispute

By: Adofo, Rockson

It is gradually leaking out into the public domain that the Minister for National Security and Advisor on national security issues to His Excellency President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa, has taken vested interest in the ongoing Kumawu chieftaincy dispute. His involvement in the case could be seen from two different perspectives and then tells whether it is justified or not.

Being the Minister for National Security, he cannot close his eyes to the infliction of police-cum-military assaults on innocent citizens and mourners at Bodomase in the Kumawu Traditional Council area on Thursday, 16 February 2016, with the subsequent continuous dawn raids on specified homes in their efforts to arrest suspected culprits. He has to show interest and involvement in the case to ensure that the human rights of people are not abused regardless of whether they are men and women in security uniform, or they are just ordinary poor and needy civilians.

On the other hand, his interest and involvement in the case could be down to some inducement of some kind.

From the information filtering through into the public domain from the queen (Kumawuhemaa Nana Abenaa Serwaah Amponsah) and Kumawuhene Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua's camp, of which they are very jubilant about, Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa has taken lopsided and biased stance. He is not approaching the incident that took place at Bodomase as indicated above with the fairness of mind and the clarity it requires.

He is being fed wrong information by Kumawuhemaa who has had an opportunity to approach him privately, if the rumours that have made the queen and her supporters cheerful and hopeful that her intentions to finalise the enstoolment of Dr Yaw Sarfo, as the only and one legitimate Kumawu paramount chief without any further litigations from Barima Tweneboa Kodua V's camp is about to dawn, is anything to go by. Additionally, he is being fed collusively erroneous information by the police and the military personnel that descended on Bodomase to purposely breach the laws of the land and the ethics of their profession by assaulting innocent citizens and mourners.

I should like Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa to note that being a Minister for National Security demands the ability to scrutinize security matters brought before you judiciously or else, you are bound to commit otherwise preventable grievous blunders. Being a Minister for National Security is not about doing things to please your extra-marital girlfriends and/or their friends. It is all about ensuring the safety and protection of the citizens, the protection of individual's, and national, properties, and the prevention of crimes against individuals or the State. In so doing, you protect the nation against external and internal aggressions.

Nobody is trying to paint Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa darker than he actually is, however, it is alleged that he has had an extra marital affairs with one Ama Adoma, one of the sub-queens in Kumawu. Ama Adoma who serves Kumawuhemaa and has almost belittled herself and viewed by many as Kumawuhemaa's lapdog, is said to have introduced Kumawuhemaa to him for what reasons I do not want to know and will neither conjure.

I do not want to delve into security matters of which I have some ideas but will leave them to you and where you happen to lack knowledge, you can in your leisure hours google for information and more importantly, consult security experts who are honest but not corruptible, for advice, direction or coaching.

The police and the military personnel who went to cause that unnecessary mayhem at Bodomase and continue to assault and arrest people based on their own selfish and hidden agenda, are to me not credible enough to offer you any intelligent security advice on the Bodomase incident that stands no chance of passing any international query or scrutiny.

Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa should question himself to find answers to the following questions in his efforts to address the issue if he were not biased and has already not taken a biased stand on the Kumawu chieftaincy dispute. However, as an avowed defender of the poor and the needy who have no recourse to justice in Ghana owing to the stinking corrupt nature of our politicians and the judiciary, I, Rockson Adofo, shall not sit down with arms folded around the chest, looking on nonchalantly while Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa and others collude to twist the truth in the Kumawu chieftaincy dispute all for the satisfaction of their insatiably corruptible greed.

1) Why did the police and the military personnel go to Bodomase in the first place on Thursday, 16 February 2016?

2) Had the organisers/relatives of the funeral of the late Kumawu Akyempemhene Nana Okyere Krapa II invited the security agents to offer them protection? If yes, for what reasons and if no, why did the security personnel go there?

3) Is it the duty of the nation's security personnel to attend the funerals of sub-chiefs with the aim of offering protection to the mourners? If yes, where is the law and when did it start since I have personally observed and heard of the celebrations of funerals of sub-chiefs both inside and outside Kumawu traditional area without a single police or military personnel rearing their head. If the answer to my question is a No, then why did they go to Bodomase on Thursday, 16 February 2017?

4) From the former ASP Yusif Mohammed Tanko, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) for the Ashanti regional Police Command, the police and the military went to Kumawu-Bodomase with the aim of stopping a person (Barima Tweneboa Kodua V) they claim to be conducting himself as Kumawu Omanhene (paramount chief of Kumawu) from attending the Akyempemhene's funeral in the capacity of Kumawuhene since according to their police records, it is rather one Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua who is the Omanhene of Kumawu.

5) Do the police play any role in chieftaincy affairs and disputes where the litigating royal factions are not engaged in physical violence detrimental to the safety and protection of the lives of the local people, the citizens of Ghana and the nation, but are battling the case in court? If the answer is a yes, could Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa point me to the law and its source? If the answer is a No, why then did they go to Kumawu with the intent as officially expressed and published in the country's newspapers and on the Ghana internet news portals as well as heard on radio?

6) Has Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa ever heard of the sayings, you cannot play the game of football and be the umpire at the same time or you cannot be the judge of your own case in court? How does he expect the very police and military personnel who went to Bodomase to commit that atrocious crime of assault against the law-abiding citizens going about their lawful traditional way of celebrating the funeral of a sub-chief, to offer him any credible intelligence advice devoid of partiality and misinformation? Will they implicate themselves when offering any advice even though the evidence so far in the public domain gives a clear view of what happened?

For the information of Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa, he should not allow whatever connections and agreements he has made between Kumawuhemaa and him to dictate or influence his approach to the case. I have heard how he has resolutely determined to jail the arrested and bailed or still at large but being pursued, Kumawuhene Barima Tweneboa Kodua V, his sub-chiefs and supporters. I really laugh my head off when I hear this. I shall not allow the pursuit of Hon. Kan Dapaa’s selfish interests, if indeed he has any, to compromise the credibility and the incorruptibility of His Excellency President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo.

I am not being confrontational but for the information of Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa and his colleagues or accomplices, let it be known to them that I am very well-informed on many issues and never shall I sit down unconcerned when the objective of Ghanaians voting for a change for the better is immediately after the election being replaced by same nonsensical corruption, the bane of Ghana's socio-politico-economic advancement.

The police and the military personnel who were dispatched to Kumawu-Bodomase on the influence of Kumawuhemaa on Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa; the Ashanti Regional Minister Simon Osei-Mensah (a personal friend of Dr Yaw Sarfo, the alleged Kumawuhene Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua) and COP Nathan Kofi Boakye, are alleged to be feeding Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa with false information to justify their unprofessional and corrupt conduct as made public at Kumawu-Bodomase. They are allegedly saying that the supporters of Barima Tweneboa Kodua V, the locals recognised and accepted Kumawuhene (paramount chief of Kumawu) are well trained in tactical assault, evasive guerrilla-like warfare and do have the expertise to make, and possess incendiary devices able to outwit the police and the military hence the obligation to stop them through arrest and imprisonment. According to them, if Barima Tweneboa Kodua V and his supporters are not drastically dealt with and stopped, other parts of Ghana would copy their tactics of fighting the security agents to worsen the police and military's ability and capability to maintain security in the nation.

I find their observations, suggestions and recommendations to Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa baseless as well as bordering on incompetence and collusion.

All Ghanaians that voted for a positive change at election 2016 to help rid Ghana of injustice, official corruption and abuse of the ordinary Ghanaian’s human rights, will join me in this noble fight to ensure that justice prevails in the ongoing Kumawu chieftaincy dispute of which I have written extensively about without any biased interventions by any member of the New Patriotic Party to twist the truth. This is the notice I am serving today, Friday, 31 March 2017, to any would-be NPP corrupt Minister or party member.

I respect the Ministers of His Excellency President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo's government but I shall never countenance any act