A former Colonel in the Ghana Armed Forces is doubting the capability of
three men arrested by state security apparatus for plotting to target
the presidency.
Festus Aboagye, who is also a security analyst, noted that considering
the alleged evidence gathered during the arrest of the said persons, the
government rather acted prematurely in concluding that they could be
plotting to subvert the presidency.
A joint security operation on Friday, according to the government, led
to the retrieval of several arms, explosive devices and ammunition from
locations in Accra and Kpone Bawaleshie in Dodowa.
According to the Information, Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, personnel
drawn from Defence Intelligence, CID and Bureau of National
Investigations (BNI) conducted a successful operation which led to the
arrest of three persons – Dr Frederick Yao Mac-Palm and his two
accomplices – Ezor Kafui (a local weapon manufacturer) and Bright Allan
Debrah Ofosu (aka BB or ADC).
He disclosed that the joint operation was to neutralise an elaborate
plot targeted at the Presidency, and with the ultimate aim of
destabilising the country.
Colonel Aboagye reacting to the development in an interview on Newsnight
with Evan Mensah Monday, said he finds it very difficult understanding
what government meant in its statement.
“I cannot put words in the mouth of government but the agencies involved
are expected to be professional enough to explain exactly what this
group was about but if it fell short of calling it an attempted coup to
overthrow government we cannot purport otherwise that the aim, as
indicated in the statement, was to undermine the presidency…I do not
exactly understand what targeting the presidency means,” he said.
Breaking the issue down into three areas, the Security Analyst noted
that, the government statement failed to state clearly whether there was
some mobilisation of some youth to violently overthrow government, the
acquisition of foreign and manufacture of weapons “giving the quantities
that are mentioned in the statement, I am not too sure the number of
targets that those welding these pieces of ammunition were going to
target.”
The former Colonel wondered whether “these weapons and ammunition will
be sufficient for anybody attempting to overthrow the state to actually
overthrow the state.”
Colonel Aboagye said he would have been happier “if the evidence had led
to the idea that these weapons were being manufactured and acquired for
criminal purposes.
“The mention of treason…raises the stakes and I have difficulty actually
accepting government explanation that this group intended to target the
presidency…”
While he no problem with government’s call for calm in the wake of the
development, he stressed that “if indeed this group intended to
overthrow the state, I think this government acted prematurely.”
He wished the state could have gone a step further to allow the group to
hatch a plan for the security agencies to have a full grasp of the
alleged target of the presidency and deal with it appropriately.
