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Opinions of Sunday, 24 September 2006

Columnist: Amankwah, Nana Kofi

Defense Minister Must Be Fired

The minister of defense is not competent to handle his department that is so vital to our nation boundaries. The navy has sovereign powers within our national security to protect our nation. As a result s of this, the nation is demanding accountability from the defense minister. He presumes to monitor his navy officers to control our national waters and protect the nation interest. Although the IGP and his top police officers are involve with this cocaine business, they are not the root cause of this cocaine coming to our shores. The defense minister is to be blame for this untidiness.

As a defense minister who is in charge of Ghana Amy forces and navy he has allowed his naval officers to tolerate a foreign ship with a full load of cocaine to pass through our waters and onto our shores at Tema harbor. These naval officers who were responsible to observe this vessel coming to our ports are involved with these cocaine traffickers. I am therefore calling the attention of the defense committee in parliament to have hearings on these serious issues. The committee members should look into the constitution in chapter 24, article 284, to determine if Addo Kufuor has put his interest a head of his duties. Recently, Addo Kufuor has focused too much on his presidential ambitions in conflicting his duty to monitor his navy officers. Addo Kufuor should answer to Ghanaians how his naval officers who should control our boarders can allow these ships currying this cocaine to pass through our waters!

History will establish that this is not the first time Ghana navy has allowed criminals to enter our country with dubious objects to destroy our nation. In 1981, President Lemann’s administration deported the Libya ambassador from Ghana. Muammar Gaddafi, of Libya becomes angry. Gaddafi was able to influence John Jerry Rawlings a coup maker with his oil monies to ham the Lemann government for their deporting the Libyan consult. John Jerry Rawlings was able to smuggle these arms from Libya through Tema harbor with Mankwaadze fishers’ vessels to overthrow our president who was elected by the people of Ghana. The only honest President our country has ever had. These were the same navy officers who had the hegemony powers to protect our nation waters, and who had failed to inspect the ships that brought these weapons to our country off shores to overthrow our government. Ghanaians are not going to allow such miscalculation to happen again to destroy our country.

Suppose these objects were not cocaine, but weapons that someone wanted to use to overthrow our government. Such individuals could have done it easily through our waters and ports while our naval officers sit and watch this vessels coming through Tema harbor without proper inspections. This is a very serious security breach because of the Ghanaian navy. Many navy officers including Addo Kufuor must be fired. As a result of this, I am urging my brothers and sisters in Ghana to be vigilant for our nation. Any information they might receive from anywhere should sent to the national security ministry so that Francis Poku will analyze the credibility of the source of that information and use it to continue to do his incredible work and protect our nation.

Nana Kofi Amankwah (New York)

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