Security Of President Can't Be Compromised

The news media came alive with reports of the arrest of a 36 year old gunman by name Charles Antwi at the Ringway Assemblies of God in Accra.  

What gave it the needed publicity was the fact that the church was the place where President John Mahama and his family do fellowship.  

Thankfully, the President was not in attendance and who knows what the outcome would have been if he was present on the fateful Sunday, July 26. 

Not before long after the arrest of the gunman, the usual Jaundice political minds in this country tried to politicize a very serious security situation which was averted by divine intervention. 

Yesterday, a court of competent jurisdiction jailed the gunman and it has sparked all manner of comments, some of which could be said to be coming from feeble minds.  

We are in a country where our Presidents over the years have been turned into punching bags by people who do not share their political ideologies.  

One tunes in to broadcast media and hear all kinds of insults hurled at our sitting Presidents. Sadly some of this misguided statements come from citizens of high repute and one tend to ask what has happened to their sense of judgement.  

When we talk of national security, our President is an embodiment of the nation, and any attempt that breaches the security of the President is an attack on the very foundation of our society.  

It is in this light that one welcomes the caution by the Presiding Court Judge in sentencing the gun man that the national security apparatus should sit up.  

The heads of the various security agencies which have any role in ensuring the security of President Mahama, should without delay, take the needed strategies to secure the Ringway Assemblies of God to protect the President and his family.  It will definitely inconvenience others who worship there but they have to bear with national security.  

To those having problems about how swift the investigations and prosecution were carried out leading to the sentencing of the gunman, they should pause and ask themselves how about if the gunman had carried through his intention.  

That blatant breach of national security is a priority which action should send signal to people with that intent that, they will not have the luxury of playing delay tactics at the court by seeking adjournments. One agrees that the process of getting the gunman convicted was swift. Many a time, we hear of allegation of delays in gathering the necessary evidence to prosecute cases at the courts.  

Then the swift nature of the prosecution of the Ringway Assemblies of God gunman presupposes that the necessary evidence had be collected and thus helped in getting a swift judgement.  After all, the national security may be privy to other sensitive information following the arrest of the gunman and so might have urged the prosecution to argue for a swift trial.  

To those making all manner of comment about human rights violations, one may ask did the sentencing indicate that the gunman cannot seek other legal avenues like appeal?  This matter of the gunman of the church just raises another issue of how people of questionable characters possess fire arms.  

The need to strictly enforce the registration and regular licensing of such weapons is now.  As a country we are gradually losing our bearing to condemn in no uncertain terms when people engage in activities which are not helpful to national unity.  

The attempt by people to score political points with a serious national security breach like what happened at the Ringway Assemblies of God is a disgraceful act which we must all condemn. Ghana's democracy continue to be applauded globally, so engaging in pettiness just for political expediency with an issue that bothered on the life of a President is not good for our image. Let it be said that God chooses leaders at any point in time to lead his people.  

It should not be the duty of someone who thinks he has that prerogative to take away the precious life of President Mahama to satisfy the wish of any individual. Let the security apparatus not relent in its effort to get to those who may be part of the plot at the Ringway Assemblies of God.  

Anybody connected to this shameful act, should bow their heads in shame.  They should bear in mind that Ghana has no place for such characters who think they have been ordained to come to power by shedding blood.  

Life no matter who is involved is precious, so let's us a people not be seen as glorifying acts that will show that life of any person can be taken at anybody's will.  Our President is the reflection of the collective Ghanaian, and so any negative acts towards him or future Presidents should be seen as direct attacks on all citizens.  

It is based on this that we as a people must not allow politics to colour our judgement of issues of critical national security like attempt on the life of a sitting President.  

There should be no room under any circumstance to compromise the security of our Presidents now and in the future.

BY BRIGHT KOFI AGAMAH, A MEDIA PRACTITIONER