Quixotic BNI needs professional training

The arrest and deportation of three South Africans by the BNI is quixotic and laughable. Instead of thumping its chest for a job poorly executed, it should bury its head in shame and invite experts from outside to come and “repair” its battered image.

What is more criminal than a country’s president dying under mysterious or bizarre circumstances after top advisers had sworn that the President was in the best state of health? Judged against the background of the fact that the party’s ex National Chairman, Dr. Kwabena Adjei had said that the rumor of former President Mills collapse aboard a plane originated from a top member of the Presidency who stood to gain in event of the untiremely death of the former President. Less than two months after making the above statement, President John Evans Atta Mills succumbed to the cruel fate of death. What did the BNI do? Instead of inviting Dr Kwabena Adjei to shed more light on his statement, it did not but gave tacit support to the edict that conducting a post mortem on the body of the late President was a no go area.

The autopsy conducted on the body of late Jake Obetsebi Lamptey has been made public. What prevents the powers that be from making the result of that of President Mills known to his constituents? An aspect of the laws of Ghana stipulates that a post mortem must be conducted on the body of anyone who dies outside the hospital before burial. This aspect is of the law is non negotiable. Why has the NDC refused to adhere to this seemingly innocuous law?

When the wife of one of his then Deputy Ministers of Energy, Inusa Fuseini died at Ridge Hospital, the ex-President ordered a probe into the death. But when he died, there was nobody to fight for him; nobody insisted that a post mortem examination be conducted on his body. Poor Mills! Till date, the BNI has closed the chapter. Even those who knew he was terminally ill but for selfish reasons compelled him to trot at the airport before his departure and on his arrival in the country are walking the streets of the country free and enjoying their loot.

We expect the BNI ought to find the criminals who conspired to bring the former President to his untimely death. By turning a blind eye to the evil committed by these criminal-minded persons, the BNI aided and abetted in staging a constitutional coup against mother Ghana.

Yes, this is Mahama Ghana for you. Just do anything criminal and when they come for you, just flash the NDC flag at their faces or give them a hint that you belong to the “yebeii keke” contraption and that will be the surest way to freedom.

If this is not so, why should Prince Boateng of Crown Prince Academy be boasting that his government is now in power and so against all the principles of natural justice, he has commandeered public land meant for a public school at Israel into his fiefdom and dares law abiding citizens to challenge him if they had guts. Yes, Prince Boateng of Crown Prince Academy drives to the land in dispute escorted by two Prince Vehicles and a horde of thugs smoking wee in the open. This is a threat to life and property and we expect the BNI to arrest these hoodlums, but no, the organization has turned a blind eye to this blatant breach of the law why lawlessness and anarchy reign supreme. The enemy within is more dangerous than without. “Suro nea oben wo” (fear the one closer to you). “Se aboa no beka wo a na wofura wo ntama” (The animal will bite you if it is wearing your cloth) according to former President Rawlings.

I would not have bothered to comment on the above matter, but due to the political colorization by the Nefarious Destructive Cancer and the one sided reportage by the BNI, I, Citizen Daniel Danquah Damptey, who have unilaterally appointed myself the Special Aide to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, Flag-bearer of the New Patriotic Party, God’s Own Elect, the Mikhail Gorbachev and the Nelson Mandela of our time, have come out to debunk the innuendos and sarcasms aimed at portraying the NPP Flag bearer as a war lord.

To debunk the above notion, let facts be supplied a candid world. All those rabble rousers have no sense of history. When the National Reconciliation Bill was being discussed in Parliament and the then NDC opposition MPs threatened to boycott proceedings on account of a remark by the Flag-bearer of the NPP, which they deemed inappropriate, Nana Addo was humble to withdraw the remarks with an apology so that proceedings could go on.

Does this portray in any way the mark of a warlord? And at that time the NPP had an overwhelming majority which it could have used to bulldoze the bill through Parliament!

As President of the UN Security Council, his handling of proceedings including behind the scene diplomacy, brought about peace in the Middle East at the time the Arab-Israeli Conflict flared up. Most of the proceedings ended with representatives from both sides patting each other on the shoulders and shaking of hinds. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo’s diplomacy was at work!

I am using this medium to advise the Allotey Jacobs, the Solomon Nkansas, the Nii Amasan Namoeles and others from the NDC stable who are behaving as if there will be no tomorrow and have therefore eroded “Accountability” from their political history to guard their utterances for we live in a wonderful world where anything can happen.

We were all in this country when a supposedly 18 year old boy entered the room of the Abuakwa North MP, Hon. J.B.Danquah and murdered him in cold blood. The initial Police statement said three persons were involved. A later statement the 18 year old boy had acted alone. Haba! Why the discrepancy? Common sense dictates that one cannot sleep in this country with both eyes closed under Mahama’s Ghana. What has the BNI done about this?

Again when an aspiring female MP on the ticket of the NPP in the Cape Coast North Constituency was attacked in broad daylight, it took nearly one hour for the assailant to be over powered. And when the assailant was taken to the police station, he was referred to the hospital. And what was the doctor’s verdict? It was a mental case!

Again a man alleged that the President Mahama would fall down and die while delivering the State of the Nation’s Address. What did the BNI do? It arrested the man and placed him in its custody. I do not know whether or not the unfortunate man has been released or not!

But when a radio presenter said it on air that Nana Addo Dankwa would die before a certain day, the BNI has not deemed it necessary to “arrest” or invite the radio presenter. And you are telling me that Nana Addo does not have to take steps to protect his own life!

Our Flag bearer and his Running Mate and their wives need adequate protection which the NDC, the Police and the BNI are not prepared to offer. We know protection comes from God, but at the same time one has to take the necessary precautions to ensure that one does not become a prey to the ravenous dogs, wolves, snarling snakes and vipers, the hawks and the scavenging vultures perambulating the corridors of power as redeemers. While some people prefer to report their stolen items to the police, others will go to Nogokpo to recover them.

So, if the NPP prefers to have 3 South Africans to come and train the security details of its Flag bearer, his Vice and their wives, what is wrong about that? Will the cacophonous noise emanating from the NDC Stables tell us what laws in our statute books these South Africans have broken? Let them quote that particular law or forever shout their beak!

The NDC Government blew billions of Cedis on STX whilst there were Ghanaian building firms which could have executed the contract at minimal cost. Yet the project could not take off. Was our security not affected? While were those who initiated the project not “invited” by the BNI? What happened to the money paid up front and all the opepepeepee?

Again, the Ashanti Regional Youth Organizer of the NDC said it on open air that they are sharpening their machetes to slaughter NPP members in the region. What has the BNI done about that?

All of a sudden, the NDC have discarded the “Dzi wo Fie Asem” (Eat your House Matter) mantra of the late President who they had touted as the best thing that ever happened in the country and have become vociferous in their defence of suspended NPP party Chairman, Paul Afoko.

They are bent on throwing dust into the eyes of unsuspecting Ghanaians and have become strong advocates of Paul Afoko, forgotten that they had suspended Sly Akakpobi and Kofi Adams without giving them a hearing. The NDC invited Kofi Adams to its disciplinary committee hearing and asked him to wait outside the venue of the hearing. The committee came out of the meeting and handed him a letter of suspension. We know the history of the NDC and so their latter day saints should not attempt to rewrite the history of the country and their party.

It has to be stated that it is less than one percent of NPP members who are being goaded on by the NDC to support Paul Afoko and who have all of a sudden become unruly due to financial inducement. Therefore those who are accusing Nana Addo of not being able to unite the party are political neophytes whose brains appear to have been infested with kwashiorkor. Anyone with all his senses intact will not toe the line of these self induced sleep walkers who are always hallucinating at the least political tremor.

The way, Paul Afoko is going about acting the script written for him by the NDC to discredit Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, one would not be surprised if he instigates any of his hirelings to do anything including the unthinkable to permanently “disable” Nana Akufo Addo. The lives of Nana Addo and his Running mate are precious to Ghanaians.

Did the BNI Operatives undergo any investigative training at all? Where were the three South Africans when they were arrested? I am a lay man, but if I were one of the operatives, I would have followed them during their training sessions and capture it on tape so that it could be used against them. After all, they were not using real guns. But Cadet Organizations used toy and dummy guns in their training. They had paid duty on the equipment they were coming to used in their training. The onus was on the officers to ask them questions at the airport.

Again the NPP says the drivers of the candidates and their wives were amongst those being trained. BNI have a list of those 15 people they arrested at the hotel. Couldn’t the BNI take time to compare the list from the NPP with its own list before coming out with information of the arrest? Again, did the BNI do a back ground check on the three arrested men with the relevant Authorities in South Africa before making an official announcement of their arrest?

And if I may ask, what action has the BNI taken about the Fulani herdsmen who go about beating, and raping of our women folk at Agogo and its environs? From where did the herdsmen get their AK 47 which they used to butcher the people? By the way, one should not forget the fact that the Fulanis are not Ghanaians. They are doing a similar thing in Nigeria where they originally came from. Who are the trainers and sponsors of these herdsmen? My grouse with the BNI is that for a long time these herdsmen had carried out raids on people farms and villages, pillaging, maiming, raping the women and girls and killing those who resist their infiltration. What has the BNI done about that? The courts have given an order for them to be evicted. Yet, the BNI has done nothing pretending that all is well. And these issues are potential threats to the security of lives and property in the country.

Does the BNI want to give us the impression that it is afraid of the Fulani Herdsmen because of the powerful people behind them, but the three South Africans are mince meat for it?

History repeats itself and is about to be re-enacted once again. We recall the altercations that ensued between the body guards of then President Kufuor and that of the then NDC Presidential Candidate Professor Mills during the Oguaa Afahye in Cape Coast, a few months to the December, 2008 General Elections. Maybe, if Mills’ body guards had been given some form of special training as the NPP is envisaging, the confrontations would have been averted.

One should also not overlook the actions of one of Mills body guards called Arnold. He, together with newly appointed Minister of Sports, Nii Lante Vanderpuye were detailed to deliver some amount of money to one Walid who felt cheated in the NDC primaries for the Odododiodoo Constituency and decided to go solo after the death of the NDC incumbent MP. Somehow, Nii Lante Vanderpuye decided to have a cut of the largesse, and this did not go on well with a staunch member of the party who displayed his anger during a radio phone in call. Nii Lante and the body guard went and assaulted the supporter and warned him not to step foot at his working place again. This fact is non contestable and the Ghanaian Lens gave wide publicity to the fact. It was this body guard Arnold who went on a seizure spree of cars including that of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo. The NPP does not want the body guards of its Flag bearer, and for that matter our decisive President-in-Waiting to go the way of the Arnolds, hence the decision to subject the security detail of the former to such corporate training.

And if I may ask, what offence has the party committed by bringing in the three South Africans to come and help in training 15 men including drivers and aides of the President Candidate and his Running Mate? Does it contravene any of the stated laws in the country? If it does, please, I want to be “schooled”. If the offence was as “huhundous” as it wants Ghanaians to believe, why did it press a charge of misdemeanor against the three South Africans?

It is pertinent to recall the incident when the platform on which its Flag bearer and some dignitaries were collapsed. The innuendos and sarcasms from the NDC stables especially its Secretary General, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah showed that they do not wish the Flag bearer of the NPP well. If Nana’s security details had been given the proper training as the NPP is envisaging, perhaps, the incidence could have been averted.

And if we have forgotten, I wish to remind Ghanaians that the NDC sent some thugs to cause confusion during the World Cup Fiesta held South Africa. The NDC foot soldiers sent to the country held violent demonstrations in South Africa. What is more threatening to the security of a country than a group of unruly crowd from a foreign country to hold the citizens of a country where they are temporary residing to ransom through protests and demonstrations. By their reckless behavior, did the NDC “foot soldiers’ not stretch the capacity of the Police beyond its limit? These hoodlums gang raped a white woman. What is worse than all these atrocities combined? Yet the South African Authorities made no noise about them.

The deportation of the three South Africans was a device saving to save the BNI from eternal damnation. The NPP had broken no law in inviting the three South Africans to the country. Why was the NPP not prosecuted if indeed the party broke any of the country’s laws? Again, let the BNI produce the forms the So9uth Africans filled when they arrived in the country.

The ever increasing popularity of Nana Akufo Addo is giving the NDC apparatchiki’s sleepless night, and the only way to check that is to refer to him as a war lord.

Remember ECOWAS with former President Mills as Chairman had passed a resolution empowering the Regional body to use force as a last resort to flush out Gbagbo from power. But when he returned to Ghana, some evil minded person at the presidency influenced the late President to renege on the agreement. He began to sing discordant tunes and the NDC hailed him as a leader who had refused to send his countrymen to be butchered outside the country. They said Akufo Addo wanted to send Ghanaian soldiers to be killed in Cote d’Ivoire.

Mills era ended abruptly and in comes John Mahama. Meanwhile, Islamic fundamentalists with links to Al Qaeda had seized power in Mali and were carrying out atrocities in the country. ECOWAS and the AU needed troops from African countries to stop them in their track. Without being asked, our President was the first African leader to volunteer troops to the Military Force. The Malian insurgents are well armed to the teeth compared to Gbagbo/s troop who then had been decimated to only a few hundreds.

The Ivoirians are our next door neighbors and any spill over from their political impasse would have a negative impact on us. So it was better to stick with them. As fate would have it, we did not have to commit our troops to enforce the edict. French troops removed that obstacle.

Till date, nothing has been heard of the casualty rate amongst the Ghanaian contingent sent to quell the insurgency in Mali. I dread to think about the unfortunate fate that might have befallen our gallant brothers who have been sent on “a search and destroy mission”. How are they faring in a dangerous and unfamiliar terrain? What partnership do the peace loving soldiers from Ghana have with anarchists in Mali? Sending our soldiers to Mali is akin to sending them to fight Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria!

Now tell me who in the real sense is a war lord? Between Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and John Dramani Mahama – who qualifies to be referred to as the “Greatest Warlord of our time”?

Daniel Danquah Damptey (0243715297) Damptey_daniel@yahoo.com

(Self Appointed Special Aide to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo).