Deputy Defence Minister, Maj. Derrick Oduro has slammed the media and accused them of inciting the public against parliamentarians and public officials.
Maj. Oduro was speaking to the media on the back of a decision by the Ministry of Interior to provide Members of Parliament with personal bodyguards.
He has defended the Ministry's decision and says the media is shedding 'crocodile tears' over the death of Mfantseman MP Ekow Hayford Quansah.
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Maj Oduro says the media has played a major role in making MPs one of the most hated people in Ghana and is about time they desist from such acts.
"As if we are from Congo and brought to Ghana to serve the nation meanwhile you voted for us and are supposed to love us but you hate parliamentarians and partly because some of you media people incite the general public against us. The Interior Minister says there are enough police personnel to provide security for MP and the whole nation but some of you are against it, how many MPs do you want to be killed first before you see the importance of such move. I am not sure you are happy Quansah has been killed or you are shedding 'crocodile tears'. The Interior Minister says there won't be any issue deploying 200 police personnel but some so-called security experts are against it, do they know better?.
The Minister for Interior Ambrose Dery has announced that all Members of Parliament will be given personal bodyguards to protect them.
He also announced that henceforth some 200 police personnel will be deployed to Parliament to protect individual MPs.
Ambrose Dery speaking to the media after the meeting said plans are in place to improve security.
"We have been abreast with happenings in parliament which resulted in my invitation to come and talk on the floor about measures put in place to protect Members of Parliament. First of all, I want you to note that security for Parliamentarians has always been the principle. From 1992 we had the Parliamentary Protection Unit of the Police Service here. What has remained over the years is the extent to which the security has been provided which relates to the capacity of the agencies to do so among others. I want you to understand that protection of parliamentarians is part of the general national security architecture which is being taken care off by a number of strategies put in place. However so far the extent has been limited, the security at parliament has always there but when we leave we have no protection. When you look at the category of persons given bodyguards, residential protection by the police for day and night they fall in the group that we deal with in Article 71 and so the security is part of the facilities available to members of parliament. What we have proposed is that between now and the end of the year we are going to provide additional 200 police personnel to be part of parliamentary security but ideally, we would have 800 personnel so they provide the MP with security for day and night"
This was as a result of the killing of Mfantseman MP Ekow Quansah Hayford.
The lawmaker was shot and killed instantly on a road last week, with the initial reports linking the shocking death to a possible robbery case and his death has generated a lot of talks.
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