Ghanaian citizen petitions Parliament not to approve Dominic Nitiwul as Defense Minister

The Committee was petitioned by a Ghanaian citizen who identified himself as Adegbule Ola Durojaiy based in the United Kingdom (UK).

According to the petitioner, Nitiwul peddled falsehood before the Committee during his vetting.

Durojaiy said it is false when Nitiwul claimed that some Ghanaian soldiers who were cited for smuggling of weapons had been punished.

He said the army officers were currently walking free, although they were due to face court-martial adding that the personnel who were on a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon when they were caught involved in the illegal acts. 

In his petition, Durojaiy stated that "In a course of the operation, it was established Lt Col. Isaac Twum Ampofo, who had bought second-hand car engines, concealed three Pistols, in the engine in the Sump and one Pistol in the back of a Microwave. Both of them admitted smuggling the weapons into the country. Summary of evidence and Pre-trial advised that the two should be Court Martial but all of them have been left-off-the-hook and are walking free."

"It is interesting to note that these men are being protected from Court Martial.

"To the best of my knowledge, after investigation and summary of the evidence, there was pre-trial advice by the legal department of the Ghana Armed Forces dated March 2020 for the alleged culprits to be Court Martial but they have not been tried. It therefore cannot be true what the Minister-designate stated during his vetting that they have been punished. Interestingly, most of the armed robbers in Ghana before 2017 until they were arrested, had Bruni MOD 92 this is also verifiable.

"If all these cannot qualify for irregularities if concealing weapons in the Engine of a car and that of the back of a Microwave cannot be described as smuggling for which Hon. Dominic Nitiwul sees nothing wrong, then it is unfortunate and such a person must not be allowed to be a Minister in Ghana. None of the Soldiers have been punished as he claimed," he added.

In October last year, it was reported that Ghanaian soldiers sent on peacekeeping missions ended up smuggling weapons into the country for various activities, including the sale of these deadly guns to civilians and hardened criminals, such as armed robbers.

The Special Investigation Branch of Ghana Military Police revealed that on the blindside of the public, these contingents of Ghanaian army officers assigned to war-torn countries, end up smuggling weapons consisting of pistols, pump-action guns, and others, under the cover of darkness into the country.