Edudzi Tameklo, private legal practitioner
Member of the legal team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Gordon Edudzi Tameklo, has implored the nation’s security agencies such as the police, the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) and the government to provide secure and safe communities for all Ghanaians in the country.
He thus pointed out that he trusts the security apparatus in the country to deliver on that mandate but anytime there are security mishaps in the country such as has been played out in the recent Takoradi “kidnapping” incident, they must do well to communicate that to the citizens, having regard for the full facts of the situation at hand.
The private legal practitioner charged that it has come out in the open that Josephine Panyin Mensah was communicating with her family on phone at a time when she was purportedly kidnapped hence, the police should have gone to court to seek an ex parte application for orders of disclosure to ascertain from the Telecommunication companies to verify if indeed she made such calls and with what phone number before coming out with a statement on the matter.
Mr Tameklo said there is a channel the security agencies use in communicating security matters in the country and that if their preliminary assessment of events at that time suggest that Josephine was in fact not kidnapped they have every reason, as the regional police command to communicate such to the public.
He said something is amiss when a politician in the capacity as the regional minister goes ahead of them to communicate in a manner that suggests all other things must work to fit a particular narrative.
He pointed out that the Western Region had experienced a kidnapping issue before in Takoradi where a senior police officer communicated in a manner that turned out not to be the case when people had been informed and assured of their safety by the police.
To him, it raises issues, thus admonishing them to be slow in communicating and allow the professionals like the security agencies to do their job instead of the regional minister rushing to do what he is not mandated to do.
Mr Tameklo said this in an interview with Berla Mundi on the New Day show on TV3, Friday, September 24.
He was commenting on the back of the Takoradi “kidnapping” hullabaloo where the victim Josephine Panyin Mensah has been named as a suspect in the alleged kidnapping and three other suspects arrested by the police for investigations into the matter.
“All that I’m simply saying is, we want a secured, safe community for all of us, it is good for us. We trust our security officials to do that work. Anytime there are some of these mishaps we expect that they communicate with us, having regards for the full facts, nothing more, nothing less, he pointed out on the New Day show.