Parliament of Ghana
Interior Minister Ambrose Dery has announced that Members of Parliament (MPs) will be provided with police as personal bodyguards “between now and end of the year” because of their “exposure.”
“Today, thanks to the retooling of the security agencies supported by Parliament and instituted and led by the President, we have more security agencies with security personnel available,” he stated.
The decision followed the gruesome murder of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mfantseman, Ekow Kwansah Hayford, last Thursday to Friday night which triggered the debate for enhanced security and protection for MPs.
Addressing the media in Parliament after making an in-camera statement on enhanced security for MPs, the Interior Minister said, “What we have proposed that between now and end of the year we are going to provide additional 200 police personnel to be part of the parliamentary protection unit, making it therefore, attain the status of a Divisional Police Command that will take care of MPs as bodyguards.”
“But we ideally have to get to where we should get to – thus subsequently, we should have 800 police added so that each MP will also have security at home in the day and night. The judges do have that. Ministers do have that too,” he noted.
According to him, the Speaker, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, and his two deputies as well as the leadership of Parliament had already been provided with personal bodyguards, intimating that “we have got adequate police personnel to deal with the 200. We have to move it further because we do know, just like the judges, are exposed because they take decisions.”
The minister argued that MPs are exposed because their sittings are telecast live and “MP gets up to speak and his name is printed, and then you do know that very serious decisions are taken here which have ramifications on some people.”
“They bring proposals that are either not accepted or they are reduced. Whatever it is, they know what each individual MP says in the House. Secondly, we do know that in our politics we are still waiting to perfect our capacity for tolerance and therefore we can have situations where MPs are exposed.”
“Indeed, what I came to do today was to tell Parliament what we can do now to end the year, but ultimately since security is also for MPs we hope that the retooling that the President is pursuing we get many more security personnel and be able to also provide for them like we provide analogous category of persons.”
“I want you to note that security for parliamentarians has always been the principle. Actually, from 1992 we had the parliamentary protection unit of the police established here.”
According to him, what has remained over the years is the extent to which the security has been provided that directly related to the situation of the security agencies over the years, capacity to do so, among others.
“The protection of Members of Parliament is part of the general national security architecture which is being taken care of by a number of strategies that have been put in place,” he stated.
He explained that “we have Enhanced Calm Life which is fighting armed robbery and violent crime, Operation Concurred Face which is protecting our borders and within that we have the protection of Members of Parliament.”
He noted, however, that “the truth of the matter on the ground is that so far the extent has been limited. First the precinct of Parliament is protected by security – the police, and so it gives support to what I was talking about.”
“But when we leave here there is no protection for us. When you look at those categories of persons who are provided, first, bodyguards, second residential protection by the police for day and night, MPs fall within that group of Article 71 and so security is certainly part of those facilities that should be available to MPs.”
“Indeed, it is on record that one of my predecessors of my ministry, Hon. Okaija Adamafio, was ever confronted with paucity of security at the time and his response was appropriately that we did not have sufficient men.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House