National Security Advisor, Retired Brigadier General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah, is vehemently angry at police personnel, who were on duty at the Jubilee House when he together with former President Rawlings and other top security officers met at the abandoned presidential mansion on 26th November, 2009.
The Brigadier, in-depth search by TODAY has shown, is miffed at the possible source of the leakage of the meeting to particularly, this newspaper and has sworn to get at the culprits.
Unable to get to the suspects, he has taken a rash blanket decision where 60 out of the 70 policemen who were on duty on the day of the meeting have been removed from their security duties at the Jubilee House. They have been sent back to the Police Service for redeployment.
The paper has it on authority that none of the affected security officers would be assigned to areas earmarked as VIP or VVIP. These areas include the Castle, the Presidential and Vice Presidential offices.
After his persistent denials on radio stations nationwide, the retired Army General commandeered the head of the Jubilee House security to furnish him with the names of all security men including policemen on duty during his meeting with former President Rawlings and other top members of the National Security.
The Brigadier-General’s directive to Emmanuel Amedeka, the Jubilee House Security head, is in contrast with the strong denials he made about him (the Jubilee House Security head) on a number of radio stations last week when the story broke out.
He told some radio stations in the country that he did not know Emmanuel Amedeka in person, although he conceded knowing the Amedeka name from a distance.
Brigadier Nunoo-Mensah’s directive, a source hinted TODAY, has jolted momentarily the security arrangement at the Jubilee House and from all indications the newly posted security personnel would have to be given fresh orientation on activities and programmes at the Jubilee House and as a source indicated “that is likely to affect the location of the presidency from the Osu Castle to the Jubilee House”.
An independent source within the Jubilee House did not rule out the possible re-posting of all affected personnel to normal routine security arrangements like the manning of barrier check points and other designated areas that the police high command may require their assistance.
The meeting as reported by TODAY deliberated mainly on concerns raised by former President Rawlings on what is considered to be the sponsored murder of the former deputy Managing Director of Ghana Commercial Bank, Mr Roko Frimpong.
A sobering Rawlings informed the meeting of his desire to get the culprits behind the heinous act and hoped with their expertise in security matters, the security leaders who he had met at the meeting would use their vast experience to get to the bottom of the matter.
TODAY gathered that the Brigadier’s knee-jerk reaction to TODAY’s report on what was supposed to be a secret meeting was as a result of the backlash he received from some government members.
Other members of the general public did not spare the retired Brigadier and others who took the unpopular decision to hold the said meeting at the presidential office, a move they criticized as a symbolic usurpation of the powers of the sitting President.
