The Naked Security Coordinator

Lt Col Larry Gbevlo-­Lartey

National security management in the country has never been so tawdry.

Under the current National Security Coordinator, Lt. Col Larry Gbevlo-Lartey (rtd), confidence in the security agencies has plummeted several folds, the reason for which is not far-fetched.

After his tongue-in-cheek promise of investigating the infamous Yaw Boateng Gyan tape in which his outfit was implicated for its diabolic distribution of ID cards to NDC activists, the National Security Coordinator has issued a shameful 'all-clear' verdict even before the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service concludes its probe.

True to his double role as security coordinator/campaign staffer for the president, he has chosen to transform a potentially flammable subject into a biopic.

Not that we expect the CID to do any job worth making reference to, but then, since it is not implicated in the matter under review, we could pardon it for managing not to offend the authorities after going through the routine procedure in the end. It has already feigned ignorance of the tape and demanded a copy from a good citizen who lodged a complaint to them.

If the National Security Coordinator did not hear anything of security value in the tape about which most Ghanaians have spoken, our country is not in a safe pair of hands.

Did he not hear anything about a certain mission that would require a fast car which could out-speed any other in pursuit of it during the forthcoming election?

Did he not hear about a soldier who, even as he was still in the colours, sometimes worked at the NDC headquarters?

Did he not hear about how some party activists misused National Security ID cards issued them for specific operations and he was said to have expressed concern about?

Did he not hear about how the Finance Ministry was knee-deep in the distribution of money to party faithful?

If the national security management of the country is going to be entrusted to people who lie through their teeth effortlessly and shamelessly, it becomes glaring why the quality of governance has listed so dangerously, with the presidency in particular losing all traces of integrity as noted by former President Rawlings.

We are witnessing a nonchalant treatment of critical security matters at the hands of persons whose obsession with the party interest supersedes Ghana's. For those who expected something to come out of this tape issue with the likes of Gbevlo-Lartey in charge, they are now in a better position to write a testimonial for the National Security Coordinator.