Member of Parliament for Mfantseman and widow of late Mfantseman MP Ekow Hayford, Ophelia Mensah Kwansah Hayford has said it is inaccurate for anyone to say Ghana is in a state of insecurity because “once in a while” a policeman gets killed on the line of duty.
Mrs. Hayford, who lost her husband to an armed robbery attack prior to the 2020 election said this in an interview on Citi FM’s Eyewitness news.
The MP, who serves as Vice Chairperson of the Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament because of her experience as a retired police officer said the public should treat any attack on a police officer as “an isolated” incident which cannot be used as “a measure of the state of security in the country” as “these things happen once in a while”.
Her comments come after 48 hours ago, a police officer, Emmanuel Osei, and a hawker, Afua Badu, were attacked by a group of armed robbers who trailed a bullion van in a taxi and on a motorbike and upon arrival at a less crowded location, fired indiscriminately, killing them instantly.
Mrs Hayford in reaction said “the general security of the populace or the country is not at stake. It is unfortunate that this incident happened, but as an ex-police officer, I believe in the police administration and I know they will conduct an in-depth investigation into the incident and bring the perpetrators to book. These things happen once a while, sometimes they go underground and then strike once in a while, but we won’t say this is insecurity, the police have been on top of issues.”
She also added that she thinks “we should look at this incident as an isolated attack on the Police, and not insecurity within the country”.
“The complaints of insecurity is a matter of concern, but it does not depict the whole country. This is an isolated case which we are going to deal with” she said.
The woman Deputizing Assin Central MP Kennedy Agyapong on the committee added:
“Last week I met with the committee, and we had some deliberations and came up with guidelines and procedures and recommendations that we are going to bring up for the general security of the country, and it’s unfortunate that before we could roll it out this incident happened”.
Source: MyNewsGh.com
