Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has disclosed that reasons given by the National Security Ministry on the removal of former Ashanti Regional Security Liaison Officer, DCOP (Rtd) Ayensu Opare Addo from office were not satisfactory.

According to him, the removal of the Senior Officer cannot be described as appropriate and lawful.

Mr Dafeamekpor’s comments follow statements made before the Parliament by the National Security Minister, Kan Dapaah, who stated that DCOP Opare Addo was removed from office by men from the headquarters as a result of him obstructing the work of his successor, Col Francis Attah (Rtd).

“Myself and a host of other MPs were not satisfied with some of the answers. The Minister in charge of National Security sought to clarify the matter with his answers but there were still outstanding questions.

“For instance, if a senior officer of the National Security apparatus supposedly got his contract of employment terminated as far back as February 2021, and as of May 2021, the man was still there in office. What was then the security situation in the Ashanti Region that an officer, a senior one at that whose contract of employment had been terminated be accessing his office”.

The South Dayi legislator further questioned whether the Minister of National Security reported “the conduct of DCOP (Rtd) Opare Addo to the police for intervention first of all?”

“Did the National Security Minister also institute disciplinary actions against DCOP Opare Addo even though technically at the time he was resisting his vacation of office, he was not a staff of national security?”

Termination of contract

On June 23, 2021, the sector minister disclosed that negotiations to get DCOP Opare Addo to leave post did not yield any results. This, he revealed, informed the National Security Coordinator’s decision to send men to Kumasi to change the locks to the office.

That notwithstanding, Mr Dafeamekpor believes the conversation surrounding the removal was necessitated by the National Security Ministry.

He further expressed his concern over the duration taken to find a replacement for DCOP (rtd) Opare Addo.

“We say this because in his former answer to Parliament, he clearly said that his original contract was to be terminated in December 2020. But for some reasons which he also refused to disclose to Parliament why his contract of employment was terminated in February.

“Now if you terminate somebody’s contract in February, a security personnel, and then his replacement was to replace him on May 21, why leave three long months to replace someone you had relieved him of his duties. So the problem was actually created by National Security itself because they didn’t find an immediate replacement for the man”.

Justification for removal of DCOP

The National Security Minister, Albert Kan Dapaah, in parliament justified the forceful removal of DCOP Ayensu Opare-Addo (rtd) from office.

Kan Dapaah, on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, insisted that the reasons for DCOP Opare Addo’s termination were clearly stated in his letter of termination of appointment.

“The reasons for the termination of the appointment were clearly spelt out in the letter of termination. We do not think it is appropriate to say publicly what the reasons were, but DCOP Opare Addo will admit that the reasons for the termination were made known to him.”