The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has said the operations of the National Security as undertaken at Optimum Media Prime, operators of Citi FM/Citi TV, are illegal and unconstitutional.
The General Secretary, who spoke on Angel FM’s Anɔpa Bɔfoɔ morning show with Kofi Adoma Nwanwani, noted that the establishment’s role is to coordinate security in the country.
Mr. Asiedu Nketiah said: “The National Security does not have a standing force. So the force operating there is an illegal force. It is the vigilante groups that have been incorporated into the establishment.
“The National Security is a secretariat. So they help in coordinating security in the country that’s why their head is called a Security Coordinator. They call and direct the deployment of military and or police officers to places that have security issues,” he added.
He also stated that the operatives have no power to use ammunition in their operations like the military and police do.
“They [National Security] cannot give their operatives ammunitions to work with. Even the Emile Short Commission of Enquiry stated that their existence is illegal and should be disbanded and yet they are going about undertaking operations,” he said.
However, Angel FM’s checks revealed that the Commission’s findings and recommendations recognises the existence of the operatives and wished the SWAT team of the National Security rather be disbanded.
“The Commission recommends that the SWAT team of the National Security Council Secretariat should be disbanded and the operatives be reassigned as appropriate,” the Commission stated.
It also recommended that rules and procedures be enforced to regulate the usage of weapons by the operatives.
“The commission recommends that standard rules and procedures for the issuance of weapons and ammunition to the police officers and operatives of the national security who are sent on missions, and accompanying rules of accountability for these weapons and ammunition, should be enforced,” snippets of the commission’s findings and recommendations said.
