GAF refutes Sam George’s assertion that it was unable to provide security for the Defense Committee
The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) have rejected a claim made by Samuel Nartey George, a Ningo Prampam Member of Parliament, that their officers were unable to provide protection for Parliamentary Select Committee members traveling to Bawku to assess the combat situation.
Sam George had stated that the army was hesitant to travel to Bawku in order to defend highly esteemed individuals.
He claimed that the Military was unable to provide protection to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defence and Interior, which made the decision to travel to Bawku to determine for themselves what the actual situation on the ground was, on the Big Issue on TV3 on Wednesday, April 5.
He claimed that the committee decided to cancel their trip halfway to Bawku after learning that it wouldn’t be safe for them to arrive there.
“Our soldiers could go to Ashaiman and brutalize residents, but they are hesitant to go into Bawku to protect the parliamentary committee on defense and interior. The boys in Bawku are misbehaving; if you are strong, go there and deal with the perpetrators, stated Sam George.
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However, in response to him, Naval Captain Michael Addo Larbi, Director of Public Relations for the GAF, stated in an interview with TV3’s Martin Asiedu Darteh on the mid-day news on Wednesday, April 5, “It is not true that the Military wasn’t there to provide the necessary escort or protection for the committee.
A security brief of the situation on the ground is the first thing you receive when you arrive in any conflict-prone area. The committee in Tamale received that. The military was deployed and prepared, therefore the committee’s decision to forego going to Bawku was not based on the fact that they weren’t there to give them the required security.
“I think the Bawku Municipal Security Council MUSEC and the Upper East Regional Security Council had all made indications that they were prepared to receive the committee but the trip was postponed at the last minute so is not the situation that the military wasn’t in a position to provide them with the necessary security and escort to Bawku, they were prepared for that,” the author says.