President John Dramani Mahama has directed that all intelligence services in the country should be placed under the supervision of the Ministry of Interior with immediate effect.
This directive gives the Ministry an oversight role over state agencies such as the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), National Security, the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) and others who fall in that category.
This was contained in a communication from the President to the Speaker of Parliament, in which he read the details on the Floor of Parliament.
[contextly_sidebar id=”el1F3bzRj7GVkVbyBWRV95mqTXGYBbIJ”]According to the communication, the President made the directive in accordance with section 17 of the Security and Intelligence Agencies Act 1996.
“In accordance with section 17 of the Security and Intelligence Agency Act 1996, I hereby assign ministerial responsibility for the intelligence agencies for the Minister of Interior with immediate effect,” Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho added.
Per the directive, if any security agency is found to have committed an offense, Parliament would be empowered to summon the Minister of Interior for questioning.
This directive comes on the back of alleged abuses of citizens’ rights by agencies such as the BNI, National Security and sometimes the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB).
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), had accused the National Security and the BNI of raiding their offices in recent times without any convincing reasons.
Some officials of NACOB were also accused of assaulting a Nigerien suspect at the premises of the High Court in Accra.
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By: Godwin A. Allotey & Duke Mensa Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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