Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, JB Danquah Adu, was Tuesday dawn murdered in his residence at Shiashie in Accra. Police say he was stabbed multiple times by an unknown assailant.
According to the MPs, 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.
The MPs argue these recent developments reinforce their calls for the legislators to be provided Police protection, pointing out that they are equally qualified to be given Police protection just as Ministers of State and their deputies as well as Chief Executives of the various assemblies.
“The security of Members of Parliament should not be seen as a matter of privilege. It has to be a matter of necessity,” Solomon Namlit Boar, MP for Bunkrugu told TV3’s Evelyn Tengmaa, adding “JB represented not his family; he represented the whole of Abuakwa North”.
Freda Prempeh who is the MP for Tano North told TV3 it was not the first time that an MP has been attacked by an unknown assailant, noting If ministers of State have Police security, if deputy ministers have police security, if DCEs have security,” then MPs should be given security as well.
She added “We [MPs] don’t have security at home, we don’t have security here. Look at Job 600, you meet all sorts of people in the elevator. At the end of the day, you ask yourself are you safe as an MP? This is a clarion call, I believe that this will serve as a lesson to all of us and we take our security issues very, very serious.”
Murtala Mohammed who is also a Deputy Trade Minister said the murder of late JB Danquah should calls for providing police protection for MPs. He disagreed with critics who say MPs it is too much for MPs to demand for Police protection
He argued “the life of an MP is the life of an entire constituency. The Member was representing the entire Abuakwa North Constituency; he wasn’t representing his family… I think this is a defining moment, sadly and unfortunately, that we need to give special attention to the security and safety of members of parliament.
“It could be any of us, assuming 10 MPs go through this, what kind of Parliament will we be talking about?”
He said it’s about time Ghanaians started looking at the security of MPs, adding “forget of the person who is the Member of Parliament and consider his role as someone who is representing several thousand if not hundreds of thousands of people”.
Member of Parliament for Ellembelle, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah also said the issue of security for members is something worth looking into as a country.
By 3news.com|Ghana
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