Army’s reason for withdrawing Bagbin’s military attachés ‘arrant nonsense’ – Kwakye Ofosu

Majority insists withdrawal of speaker’s military officers not politically motivated

Akufo-Addo engaging in personal vendetta against Bagbin, Kwakye Ofosu

A former deputy minister of Communication, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has punched holes in the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) statement justifying the withdrawal of four soldiers who were attached to the office of the Speaker, Alban Bagbin.

According to him, the claim that Bagbin’s military attachés were deployed without proper procedure is a joke.

In a post on his social media timeline, the former Deputy Minister of Communications under the John Dramani Mahama-led administration indicated that the said officers could not have on their own accord been stationed to protect the speaker.

He believes that they were deployed at the behest of a top military personnel.

“The sudden claim that four Military personnel attached to the Speaker for protection were deployed without recourse to due process necessitating their withdrawal, is yet more proof of the comical resort to outlandish gimmicks to justify the execution of clear political retribution against perceived opponents. The Military is a highly regimented organization and it is simply not possible for men from that outfit to be deployed without express authorization from their superiors to guard such a high profile figure,” he wrote on his Facebook wall.

“The notion that these men can be sent out to guard the speaker on the blind side of the Military high command is a joke. Speaker Bagbin did not put a gun to their heads for that to happen. This is nothing more than a grand design to embarrass and intimidate the Speaker as payback for what happened over the E-Levy in Parliament. All the rationalization of this action is arrant nonsense which must be dismissed,” he stressed.

In a related development, the Minority has raised red flags about the withdrawal of the military men stating that it was an attempt by the government to put the Speaker in harm’s way. They also believe it is an attempt to gag the speaker and compel him to do the bidding of the government.

On the contrary, the Majority group has refuted assertions that the move is politically motivated.

They emphasize that Speaker, Alban Bagbin, is a beneficiary of the “largest number of security personnel for his protection that none of the previous Speakers had.”