Security analyst shoots down MPs call for 24hr police protection

A security analyst, Colonel Festus Aboagye (Retd) has shot down demands to provide 24-hour police protection for Members of Parliament.

According to him, attempts to do so will compromise the efficiency of the police since it will result in human resource constraints for the service.

This comes after demands for protection by some members of parliament following an attack on MP for Nhyiaeso.

But in an interview, Colonel Aboagye (Retd) said the demand can only be met if there is sufficient evidence to support claims that MPs are attacked due to the positions they occupy.

“If we have cases that are substantiated that parliamentarians are targeted because they are parliamentarians then that would warrant further discussions as to how parliamentarians should be protected. I am not too sure there is a sufficient basis to establish that.

I think already there are some categories of persons in this country who are entitled to police protection and going to add parliamentarians, considering that this number is going to go up, is going to have a toll on the police strength and the capacity of the police to deliver protection to the rest of the country. I will argue finally that everybody in this country needs protection and so we need to create a police service that is well resourced in order to create that safety and security umbrella that all of us on a day to day basis can go about our livelihoods” he said

Meanwhile, former Chairman of Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee, Fritz Baffour, has kicked against the renewed calls by Members of Parliament to have around the clock security protection.

The former Ablekuma South MP, who served as Minister for Information and Tourism, said the associated cost of the demands being made by the Parliamentarians is rather too high.