Investigate arrest of Sohin Security CEO - Nyaho-Tamakloe
Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, a leading functionary of the New Patriotic Party, has called for a dispassionate public enquiry into the arrest of the Sohin Security CEO, Solomon Adelaquaye, by the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in the United States.
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He argues “this is not an NDC, NPP, CPP or political issue; it is a national security culture issue.”
He told the Daily Graphic that “all the security officials advising His Excellency President John Mahama have reassessments to do, and that can begin only through a multi-partisan public enquiry so that we can learn from our mistakes.”
Contrary to what Ghana’s National Security Co-ordinator has said, Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe, who is also a former Ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro, insisted that “Mr Adelaquaye appears to have been in charge of security for more than just the parking lot at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), and also appears to have had a dedicated network operation at the KIA.”
In his view, even if Mr Adelaquaye was merely in charge of the parking lot as the national security co-ordinator wanted Ghanaians to believe, the KIA is a security-sensitive area and anyone given a security contract for that area must be properly vetted.
Will you hire your watchman without any form of meaningful vetting,? he asked in amazement.
Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe said while Bloomberg reports that drug shipment from West Africa had decreased from 2009, the report, contrary to the assertions of the national security co-ordinator, cannot be interpreted as being specific to Ghana.
“Obviously, there are more questions than answers here. In Kufuor’s era, the arrest of all manner of Ghanaians abroad on drug charges was grist for NDC’s propaganda mill,” he recalled.
As argued in my recently published autobiography, however, public discussions of crimes in Ghana must be depoliticised, and the Adelaquaye arrest, after he had been contracted by an NDC administration to handle security functions, underscores my argument, he stated.
While it is important not to politicise the political security breach occasioned by the contract awarded to Sohin Security, it is still important to determine the factors that motivated the contract and whether the state could have been better served.
Ordinarily, security services at KIA are performed by state security personnel. Perhaps, the Adelaquaye’s saga should give us a pause and cause us to critically assess the merits of farming out crucial state security functions to private contractors, he stated.
By Kobby Asmah
