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Presidential candidates need state protection - Egbert Faible

“Ordinary people know that they are certain targets for armed robbers and so on so people have taken their own security into their own hands. It shows a certain failure of state,” Egbert Faible said.

 

He noted that in the United States and other civilized nations, once a person declares his or her intentions to run for office, the state security apparatus take control of the personal safety.

Contributing to a panel discussion of Joy FM, Mr. Faible said: “Nana Akufo-Addo has been elected flagbearer for the past two years. Has the Ghana Police Service considered that by reason of his election, he is a politically exposed person together with his running mate and their spouses such that few weeks or months after their election, security ought to have been put in place?”

He thus indicated that it was not out of place for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to bring in three private security trainers from South Africa to train the party’s security personnel on how to effectively protect their flagbearer and running mate.

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The Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) arrested the South African trainers and charged with “conspiracy to commit crime.”

On Thursday, an Accra Circuit Court granted them bail. The NPP has since received whispered criticism especially from the government.

Mr. Faible however, believes that this matter is indicative that Ghana’s security agencies have failed to protect its citizens.

“There have not been any breach of the laws of Ghana…people have jumped onto a certain tangent and are doing all sorts of things. We forget that the first law of nature is self-preservation,” he said.

“Ordinary people know that they are certain targets for armed robbers and so on so people have taken their own security into their own hands. It shows a certain failure of state.”

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“People have drivers driving them in Accra but although they are drivers, they are bodyguards and snipers. If you attempt to touch his big man who is sitting at the back of the car, he will snip at you first so what has the NPP and for that matter, Nana Akufo-Addo done wrong?” he asked.

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