Security expert clashes with Minority over military deployment to curb robbery

A security expert has brushed off a suggestion by the Minority in Parliament for soldiers to be deployed to support the police in the combat of robbery.

Cautioning against any attempt to domesticate the military, Adam Bonaa said the nature of crimes carried out in the country is not the type that the police are not capable of handling.

He would rather want the police administration to prioritise intelligence gathering and for more officers to be recruited to increase its visibility.

Mr Bonaa was commenting on the suggestion made by ex-Deputy Interior Minister James Agalga after two robberies within the last 24 hours.

There have been two separate robberies, one in Accra and another in Tema in which at least one person was left dead. The first was an attack at the office of Royal Motors Limited at Industrial Area Tuesday and the second happened at the Tema Industrial Area Wednesday.

In the Tema attack, a Lebanese cashier at soap-manufacturing company, Delta Agro identified as Ahmed Safiadeen, 54, was shot in the head as the robbers made away with GHS200,000.

The money was withdrawn from the bank and was to be paid as salaries to workers of the company. The suspects trailed the victim from the bank and ended up killing him.



Already, there have been more than 24 robberies carried out at Oyibi and surrounding communities in Accra since the start of the year.

Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery said the police are in control of the situation, saying the government is expediting processes to procure state-of-the-art-equipment for them.

Mr Agalga has asked the Interior Ministry to consider engaging the services of the military to complement the police in the fight against armed groups.

But the security expert with Security Warehouse Limited has dismissed the suggestion, expressing his surprise that a former Minister will advance such an idea.

“It is not a hopeless situation that we need the military,” Mr Bonaa said, adding the army is an important institution that should not be domesticated.

He wants the minority to rather appeal to president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to increase the number of police officers in the country.

“The police we have today is the same police we had so many years ago,” the security expert made a case for training programmes to be conducted for the officers.