It is illegal for National Security to have troops- former Chief of Defense Staff

Brigadier General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah, speaking Saturday on TV3's "Key Point," said the National Security's role is to gather intelligence and pass it on to either the police or the military.

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The former army chief was reacting to comments by the National Security Minister, Albert Kan Dapaah, who said at the Ayawaso West Wuogon Commission of Inquiry that his outfit deployed the masked men accused of shooting 16 people during the by-election.

“They are intelligence teams. When it comes that there is violence…, they don’t go there, they inform the Police who go and take action, it is not for them to take action, it is not their job," Nunoo-Mensah said.

He explained further: “The only people who can use force are the police and the military. The rest support them with intelligence.

“When it comes to the arresting of somebody, it is given to the military and the uniformed police. National Security should not have troops."

Brigadier General Nunoo-Mensah's comments mirror similar statement made a former Chief of Staff under the Rawlings administration, Nana Ato Dadzie.

According to him, the National Security Council, under the laws of the country has no power to move troops neither does it have the power to “operationalize a paramilitary force.”

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“Article 85 of our constitution is absolute and it prohibits the formation of any security agency except those set up by law…," he noted.