“Selfish” MPs don’t deserve police protection

Executive Director of Media Foundation for West Africa, Sulemana Braimah, has disapproved the request for personal Police protection for the country’s legislators describing it as self-centred.

Some Members of Parliament on Tuesday renewed calls for them to be given special personal Police protection both within and outside the House amid what they say are the recent attacks on their lives.

Their request was triggered by Tuesday’s murder of the Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, JB Dankwa Adu, in his residence at Shiashie, Accra.

The MPs have argued a number of their colleagues including Benita Owusu-Bio, Gifty Klenam, and Robert Sarfo have been attacked in their homes in recent times; a situation that raises security concerns among MPs.

But some critics say the legislators should rather focus on the bigger problem and use their influence to push for better security for all Ghanaians as against themselves.

“MPs occupy an important position and do important work. Yes, no doubt. But as citizens, their lives are not important than others. All Lives Matter!!!,” Mr Braimah stated in a Facebook post

He argued that it was important for the MPs to use their important positions to get the government to prioritise security for Ghanaians in general by influencing a doubling or tripling of the annual budget for the Police.

That, he believes, “will help increase the number of police officers, better train them, increase police posts, visibility and proximity, provide the police with necessary logistics”.

For him, personal Police for the MPs will in no way guarantee their safety, contending that the Police personnel themselves are not safe in the country considering the recent attacks on some of them by criminals.

“Having a police guard does not guarantee security when the police themselves are not safe. We have had recent developments where police officers have been shot dead by criminals. What matters is improved overall security for all,” he said.

He rather urged the lawmakers to use the sort of zeal and efforts they put into their campaigns to put the Police and security agencies under pressure to perform.