Security analyst, Col. Festus Aboagye, has stated that authorities heading security institutions are using the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) to perform questionable tasks to maintain their power.
According to him, the authorities are misusing the officers for assignments they should not be involved in, including election security.
“The whole narrative is that those in authority over these institutions, I’m afraid to say don’t know what civilian control of security services are about. They don’t understand, they don’t know it and they are not prepared to know it because they want to use the Armed Forces to do the dirty work that will keep them in power,’ he said.
Speaking on Top Story on Wednesday, June 12, Col. Aboagye asserted that it is not the role of the Armed Forces to engage in such activities.
He argued that seeing soldiers protecting high-ranking authorities in a democracy that is not at war is a disgrace to the Armed Forces.
“But all of this is happening because what we call civil oversight or the civilian control of the Armed Forces has collapsed. One would have expected that the Ministry of Defence would have pronounced this terrible on the statement the Armed Forces made. Indeed, the Armed Forces should not have made that statement,” he said.
His comments come after the GAF cautioned individuals to desist from inciting the public to attack soldiers while they are performing their duties.
According to the security service, calls for such attacks on soldiers are unlawful and pose a threat to security and stability.
In a release signed by Director General Public Relations Brigadier General Aggrey-Quashie on June 10, GAF stated, “We strongly caution the public against such utterances.”
On the back of this, Col. Aboagye emphasised that ministries, ministers, and all officials in authority are supposed to mediate tensions between society and the security services.
He cited the shooting incident in Ejura in the Ashanti region, noting that just because the military has been given an order to open fire does not mean they should do so indiscriminately.
He stressed that the Ministry of Defence should protect the Armed Forces from such situations by mediating.
The security analyst added that the statement released by the GAF seemed to be a declaration of war against the civilian population, arguing that this should not be the case.
“Even if civilians kill a section a platon a company, it does not warrant the Armed Forces to declare war on any segment of the civilian population.”
Explaining further, he said that the language used by the Armed Forces in their statement implies that soldiers will shoot to kill to defend and protect themselves if attacked.
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