Ahmed Suale’s case has not died - Ambrose Dery

The police has not closed investigations into the murder of Ahmed Hussein- Suale, a Ghanaian undercover investigative journalist and an associate of investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, Interior Minister-designate Ambrose Dery has assured.

Ahmed died on Wednesday, 16 January 2019 when unidentified men on motorbikes shot him three times, twice in the chest and once in his neck in his vehicle.

As it appears, news on the police investigation into the murder is getting scanty, more than two years after his death, the Interior Minister Designate said on Wednesday in Osu- Accra that he is still in touch with the police on the investigation.

“Just last Wednesday was the last time I asked for an update from the CID,” Mr. Dery told Parliament’s Appointment Committee vetting him for the Interior portfolio.

He added:” It’s not the case that it has died.”

Mr. Dery, a lawyer, and MP for Nandom, served in the first term of the Akufo-Addo Government, and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has renominated him to hold that same portfolio at the beginning of his second term.

The Interior Minister-designate was vetted for the position, as a requirement of the 1992 Ghanaian Constitution and the Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana.

The Appointment Committee, chaired currently by Joseph Osei-Owusu, First Deputy Speaker and MP for Bekwai Constituency, recommends to Parliament for approval of persons nominated by President for appointment as Minister of State, Deputy Minister, Members of Council of State, the Chief Justice, and other Justices of the Supreme Court and any other persons specified under the Constitution or under any other enactment.

The Interior Minister Designate’s assurance during the vetting was in response to an observation by Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a Member of the Committee and MP for North Tongu Constituency, that the killing of the journalist had affected Ghana’s human rights credentials and press freedom rankings.

Mr. Ablakwa wanted the Minister-Designate to update the nation and what assurance there was on the matter.

Mr. Dery said the matter was being pursued assiduously.

Other public interest murder cases that were being investigated were that of Ekow Hayford, the late MP for Mfantseman, and the late J B Danquah.

In the case of the late J B Danquah, the Minister-designate said the current Government took off from the last Government.

He described the police as being capable of operating without the support of the army, saying, “the police are competent and adequately motivated and resourced. We do not need the army,” as he reacted to concerns on the presence of the military in civilian areas.

He, however, said the police “needed the army from time to time which has led to joint operations,” adding that as the Ministry develops the capacity the police, the army would increasingly be phased out.

The police, Mr. Dery said would continue to take the lead when it comes to policing, and citing the recent fight on illegal mining, galamsey, and noted that the military had now withdrawn, and it had been left to the police.

He called on the House to continue to support the efforts to resource the security agencies and especially the police, as he emphasized that the soldiers go back and play their traditional role.