Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor has alleged that the Inspector General of Police (IGP), is deliberately exposing minority MPs to harm by disarming their police guards.
The MP claims the IGP had ordered police officers attached to minority MPs to return their weapons to the local police command, a move he believes violates the conditions of service for parliamentarians.
Dafeamekpor voiced his concerns during an interview with JoyNews on June 26, 2023, stating that the IGP's instruction appears to be politically motivated. He argues that for MPs to be told that their weapons are being withdrawn means they are being protected by policemen armed only with batons, which he finds insufficient for their security.
“The policemen attached to each Member of Parliament, whether you are in Assin Fosu or not, you are to surrender your weapon. This amounts to varying the conditions of service of Members of Parliament, and I think that the law does not permit him to do what he has done.
“For him [IGP] to tell them [MPs] that their weapons are withdrawn, it means I am being protected by a policeman who has a stick in hand. I saw nearly the 137 majority of MPs; all of them at Breku Park where they had their rally. Each of them had their security, some now have double weapons,” myjoyonline.com quoted him to have said in the interview.
The MP further accuses the IGP of bias, pointing out that MPs from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) still have police guards who are armed. Dafeamekpor alleges that during an NPP rally at Breku Park, he witnessed police vehicles transporting chairs to the NPP campaign center, raising suspicions of preferential treatment.
“I saw police vehicles carrying chairs to the NPP campaign centre yesterday [Sunday].”
The police administration has ordered its police guards for both the minority and majority MPs, to return their AK-47 rifles and have their pistols alone as part of security measures ahead of the by-election in Assin North slated for June 27, 2023.
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Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor