The withdrawal of four soldiers attached to the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has negative implications for Ghana’s democracy, the Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak has said.
Muntaka Mubarak in an interview said the explanation given for the withdrawal was baseless, as the government had given some of its officials’ military protection without following standard procedure.
“The attempt to explain away this shameful thing that has happened is a challenge. I want to find out which procedures were followed. What they are doing is a bad precedent and it has the tendency to threaten the democracy that we have. This democracy has been there for thirty years and we must do everything to safeguard it,” he said.
Since the withdrawal, some have accused the governing New Patriotic Party of being selective since the former Speaker, Prof. Mike Oquaye also enjoyed protection from the military.
Mr Ocquaye has however denied this claim, insisting that he never enjoyed military protection.
Mr. Muntaka, in response, said the Speaker’s military protection was justified, given the high level of threats he had received since assuming his role.
“Because of the threat level, and coming from a different party either than the party of the executive, poses a threat to the Speaker. Nobody can take this away. The area where he comes from, the closeness to our neighboring countries that are already having challenges and each time he was moving a number of things were taken into consideration.”
“If it takes one year for the military in our country to tell us that it is now they have realised an anomaly, there is a lot to explain.”
Source: Mybrytnewsroom.com
