A security expert, Mr Emmanuel Sowatey, has called for calm as the country’s security machinery investigates a security breach at President John Dramani Mahama’s church where a gun man entered the church initially undetected.
“One caution is that we shouldn’t rush in revolutionising some of the well-tested processes and strategies that are in use currently.
“The danger is that in the immediate aftermath of such a development because of the tsunami of criticism that will come, if leaders are not careful, they will rush in taking decisions that might look very attractive in the short term but potentially counterproductive in the long term,“ he told the Daily Graphic in an interview.
He said at a time like this, it was necessary to be sober-minded and review lapses and try to make sure that the country did not fall vulnerable to people who were parading the corridors of power in Africa forcing African countries to buy security equipment that the country might not necessarily need.
Security vultures
“In situations like this, there are security vultures parading the corridors and margins of security of African states and they are proposing all sorts of technological equipment. Sometimes, these technologies are obsolete. They will give you all kinds of reasons why you need these things,” he said.
“These are businessmen who could work in league with Ghanaian retired security capos and entice them with juicy offers to get the deal through.
“We should be careful, I’m not saying all proposals from outside are bad but under panic situations we take decisions that are not durable and well thought through.”
Mr Sowatey’s call follows the arrest and subsequent jailing of a 36-year old man Charles Antwi for wielding a loaded and cocked pistol at the Ringway Gospel Centre branch of the Assemblies of God Church in Accra where President Mahama worships.
The man who is now being described as a mentally challenged person, told the Accra Circuit Court that he “wanted to kill President Mahama to take over his position.”
According to Mr Sowatey, it was important to investigate that the case did not end with the jailing of the gunman but also how and where he even got the gun.
Hold people accountable
“Somebody did something wrong. Some people did not do their job well. When we are holding people accountable, it should not just be those on the ground but their supervisors as well,“ he said.
While admitting that perhaps a more thorough work would have been done if the President had been in church, he said the lives of other worshippers were also important.
“The children of the President are as important to him as his life is important to Ghanaians,” he added.
He however, observed that a careful scrutiny could also reveal that the fault could be coming from politicians and not the security set up.
“If you even check and cross-check, you end up blaming a politician because the security people probably said they need a certain number of people and equipment but it was not available.“
Apart from the President, the Chief Justice Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood and the Director-General of the Ghana Police Service, DCOP Rev. David N. Ampah-Bennin also worship at the church.
Dogs in security set up
He made a strong case for the use of dogs in the country’s security system.
“We need to invest a lot into dog training for our security services. We should make sure that it is not only used by the military but also the police, prisons and immigration services.“
“We don’t necessarily need foreign dogs but local dogs that are equally good and can withstand the environment. If the dog is from outside, sometimes, it can’t cope with the heat and diseases.“
Word leaders and security breaches
World leaders’ security breaches are not new across the world. In the last seven years of President Barack Obama’s administration, there have been at least five lapses that endangered his life and that of his family. British Prime Minister David Cameron and his German counterpart, Angela Merkel were also reported to have experienced security lapses.
November 2009
A Washington couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, gatecrashed Obama’s first state dinner. The Secret Service later acknowledged that officers never checked whether they were on the guest list. A photo emerged showing that they shook hands with the president.
November 11, 2011
A gunman parked his car directly south of the White House, in the dark and fired shots from his semi-automatic rifle out of the passenger window, aimed directly at the home of President Obama.
A bullet smashed a window on the second floor, just steps from the first family’s formal living room. President Obama and his wife were out of town on that evening of Nov. 11, 2011, but their younger daughter, Sasha, and Michelle Obama’s mother, Marian Robinson, were inside.
July 25, 2013
A man wearing just his underpants and high on drugs managed to board an empty German government jet used by Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Clutching a bag full of marijuana and ecstasy pills, the 24-year-old danced on the wing of the plane, sprayed foam around and pushed buttons in the cockpit of the jet in Cologne Airport.
The bodybuilder, believed to be of Turkish descent and named only as Volkan T, even released the inflatable emergency slide of the Airbus 319.
September 16, 2014
A man with a gun that the Secret Service did not know about rode in an elevator with President Obama during his visit to the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
September 19, 2014
A man carrying a knife was able to scale a fence outside the White House and make it inside the building’s front door.
The incident, which took place minutes after Obama and his family left the White House on the Marine One helicopter, triggered a comprehensive review by the Secret Service on White House security.
October 27, 2014
British Prime Minister, David Cameron was shoved by a protester in Leeds in a massive security breach.
A member of the public confronted Mr Cameron outside Leeds Civic Hall and was seen pushing the Prime Minister before police were forced to step in.
