Kufuor’s government has survived coup plots

National Security Minister, Mr. Francis Poku stunned participants at a commissioning ceremony when he dropped hints of incursions and failed attempts to topple the government of President John Agyekum Kufuor.

According to Francis Poku, the vigilance and the focus of the security agencies succeeded in repelling those incursions and failing those acts of subversion.

The Independent newspaper says the National Security Minister dropped the hint when he came up to address participants at a ceremony to commission a new office complex for the Research Department of the Ministry of' Foreign Affairs in Accra last Thursday.

In attendance at the commissioning ceremony were Mr. Hackman Owusu Agyemang, Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing; Madam Ama Busia, Member of the Council of State, Ambassadors and officers of the Research Department.

The ceremony was chaired by Odeneho Gyapong Ababio, President of the National House of Chiefs, while President John Agyekum Kufuor was the special guest of honour.

Mr. Francis Poku disclosed that irrespective of the fact that there were insurgencies, which were detected and curtailed, the security agencies were neither perturbed nor swayed but remained focused and ready to serve the national cause.

"Inspite of attempts to destabilize the nation, security agencies are focused and performing their duties and roles as expected,” the National Security Minister told his amazed audience who at this point were listening with rapt attention, as news of the incursions and coup attempts has this time around, not leaked out at all.

He attributed the efficient and calm manner in which the entire exercise was carried out to the alertness and the smartness of Ghana's security, and placed credit for that at the door steps of President Kufuor's administration.

He attributed to President Kufuor's resolve to discontinue the policy of dismissals, chasing and thus causing the scattering of quality security personnel, and forcing them into exile in the event of political change-overs.

According to the National Security Minister, President Kufuor's depoliticisation of the security services and the introduction of fairness into the administration of their affairs have also gone a long way to ensure the alertness and effectiveness of the security personnel.

"President Kufuor has show self-restraint in the affairs of the security," he said adding, this and many other moves by the President have helped to entrench democracy in the country.

President Kufuor in his keynote address indicated that, the safe haven status of the country, which has conferred on us the accolade of a peaceful nation, has been achieved largely by the collaboration of the security agencies among them the Research Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Based on those developments, he said, the commissioning of the new office complex could be classed among a befitting tribute to the peace and stability the nation currently enjoys.

President Kufuor said he wants to introduce and to promote a functional and peaceful work atmosphere, and urged officers of the Research Department not to relent in their efforts to achieve greater laurels.

President Kufuor pointed out that security is the first law of governance. Therefore their loyalty, commitment and approach to duty should not be in doubt, and urged them to make their inputs with all the efficiency at their disposal.

He pledged government's support for their operations.

"Government," he said, "will continue to depend on the inputs from the department."

The Director of the Research Department, Mr. J. K. Mensah, said the department, as a national institution, has de-politicized its operations and does not dabble in tribalism and nepotism.

That is in line with the dictates of Act 526 that established the department, he said, and expressed gratitude to the Kufuor administration for its support to the department all these years.

According to Mr. Mensah none of the staff members of the department has ever been dismissed on political grounds since the NPP assumed the reigns of government, affirming that "the department is a non-political state institution that does not discriminate against its staff members."