The Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has condemned and expressed its dissatisfaction with the appointment of the erstwhile Ministry of National Security director of operations, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Agyeman, as the commanding officer of the 64th Infantry Battalion of the Ghana Armed Forces.
Agyeman was relieved of his duties at National Security last week and handed over to the Chief of the Defence Staff, Vice-Admiral Seth Amoama, by the Minister of National Security following the “inappropriate” arrest of a journalist with Citi FM, Caleb Kudah.
Agyeman faces possible punitive measures.
Speaking on The Big Bulletin on Asaase Radio, the senior programmes officer at CDD-Ghana, Paul Nana Kwabena Abroampa Mensah, said the appointment seeks to trivialise the question of human rights abuses against the journalist.
“We are talking about institutions in the country and their dealings with people in the country. Human rights is at the forefront of the whole issue. So somebody who has committed a human rights abuse and has been redirected to you for investigations and possibly punishment . . . all that we hear is the person has even been transferred to go and head a bigger department of that same institution.
“When that happens, there are two things here: one, you are seeking to trivialise the issue at hand, and two, you are seeking to tell the country that you endorse what the officer did,” Mensah told the host of The Big Bulletin, Beatrice Adu.
Background
The National Security Minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah asked Agyeman to step back from National Security duty on 11 May 2021 after investigations into Kudah’s arrest established that officers had failed to follow standard operating procedures.
The army chief’s subsequent announcement that Agyeman is to receive an appointment as the commander of the 64th Infantry Battalion has caused raised eyebrows.
Elliot Nuertey
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