<<Print>>

The national security apparatus and its appendages have never been so undermined. Until recently, it was a coordinating national security body rarely heard of but working hard to protect the nation�s security interests. Under the current political dispensation, things have changed drastically and the apparatus is losing its deference with such rapidity that we wonder whether the public confidence it needs to survive would not all dissipate and reduce it to a wing of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). That could definitely imperil our national interest, if it has not done already. The NDC will go down as the party with the worst record in bringing into disrepute the image of our security agencies and their coordinating apparatus under the headship of Mr. Gbevlo Lartey. Under it, national security and now a shadowy special forces have come to represent state organs of repression and the perpetuation of abuse of the rule of law. Some cynics have described the national security apparatus as a regime security system and we are hard-pushed not to concur with the description, given the manner in which personnel in the organisation have pandered to the whims and caprices of the government rather than uphold the constitution. A few days ago, Ghanaians were shocked by the revelation of how the National Organiser of the NDC, Yaw Boateng Gyan, was engaged in a clandestine operation to shore the electoral chances of the ruling party through, among other things, the issuance of national security identification cards to party thugs for use during the elections. We are wondering what would happen to a security conscious Ghanaian who questions the authenticity of a man who claims to be an officer of the national security apparatus and refuses to obey his orders to follow him to its headquarters, The Blue Gate, near the Accra Sports Stadium. This is one of the challenges which currently bedevil the operations of an otherwise crucial organisation as it is riddled by diabolic political manouvres of a desperate ruling party. The national security apparatus, the Police, Armed Forces and others, are state institutions which should not be used for such clandestine operations. This is so, so sad. The government and the ruling NDC must pass the test of integrity which the challenge of the Yaw Boateng Gyan tape has imposed on them. A mere statement of intent to do so, as the one from the National Security Coordinator, Gbevlo-Lartey suggests, is not enough to allay the fears of the citizenry. The gentleman should be invited for questioning; otherwise the fear is that under the NDC, the rule of law is only theoretical. Our security agencies have been dealt a terrible blow as their integrity is no more. The reversal of the smelly situation depends on how the issue under review is handled. Brushing it under the carpet and expecting time to kill it cannot hold because it will join the many instances of bad governance practices associated with the NDC government. Besides an action from the president, the party too should move to save their offices from further loss of respect. Any delay would suggest a vacillation which itself points at a major drawback for the flagging presidency. It is pitiable how governance has been thrown to the dogs!