Don’t blame judiciary in Dagbon issue-Retired security Chief warns

A retired national security coordinator Kofi Bentum Quantson has said that it will be unwise for any President to come to conclusion that the inability to find lasting solution to the crisis in Dagbon,is as a result of judicial flaws.

Mr. Quantson said the judiciary cannot be blamed for the inability of the courts to find specifically who the alleged killers of the overlord of Dagbon are.

“The conflict in Dagbon has serious security implications rather than judicial flaws in the judgment,” he said.

Speaking to Adakabre Frimpong Manso on Adom Fm’s Dwaso Nsem on Thursday, Mr. Kofi Quanston said “it is easy for the security to come out clearly to say the issue is a pure criminal matter”.

Meanwhile, the former National Security coordinator has cautioned that the present political atmosphere does not mean well for peaceful elections in 2012.

Mr. Quanston said tribal inferences have the tendency to derail the nation’s peaceful atmosphere if not checked and stopped immediately.

“There are also critical issues that would ignite or be ignited if not properly managed. These relate to chieftaincy matters particularly in Bawku, Dagbon, Yendi, Tamale, Anlo, Sefwi and elsewhere, with clear or perceived discrimination and selectivity in the criminal justice system, all having the potential for settling scores ever present,” he warned.

He said the intra-party skirmishes in the leading political parties could also affect the political stability towards the elections.

He said the description of the 2012 elections by politicians and political parties as “a do- or-die affair, insults, open threats of recriminations and counter-recriminations, among other things, are all indicators of potential disputing of election results."

Mr. Quantson, whose tenure as a security officer spanned the governments of the First Republic to the Fourth Republic under the National Democratic Congress (NDC), said in an acrimonious, divisive, volatile political environment, there is the possibility that fanatical or unthinkable people could be manipulated to embark on criminal acts for parochial political interest.

He noted, people fail to acknowledge national interest ahead of tribal interest and will therefore not defend the property of the nation, but rather will die for their tribes.


Story: Samuel Mantey/Adom news