Ghana Army sources have alerted a potential fallout between professional soldiers and their officers, the National Security Secretariat and political authority for what they describe as an increasing infiltration of the security agencies by political loyalists.
This uneasiness in the army has reportedly escalated following the recent news of men believed to be thugs of the ruling party being given sophisticated combat training at the military training camp at Asutuare.
Exclusive intelligence picked up by Whatsup News shows that the anger, particularly from the feared 64 Battalion Infantry Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces over the training regime at Asutuare has forced plans for an emergency reshuffle of commanding officers at the Asutuare training camp.
One Captain Amankwa, a Training Officer at the Asutuare camp has allegedly been notified of plans to move him from the camp. Whatsup News cannot independently confirm if Captain Amankwa is one of the alleged officers being used by the political authorities as their puppet or not.
The Asutuare training situation is becoming an albatross on the neck of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) as critics claim they have evidence that the camp has been virtually turned into a training ground for party thugs.
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has stated unequivocally that they have evidence to prove unconventional training of NPP thugs at Asutuare. The flagbearer of the party, John Dramani Mahama recently insisted on this.
Not long afterwards, the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament Alban Sumani Bagbin a few weeks ago confirmed that he had spoken to a number of military officers who were angry with the situation at Asutuare camp.
According to Mr. Bagbin in an interview with Accra-based Joy News, some military officers are apprehensive of the fact that political thugs are being trained with state resources in the use of sophisticated military-grade weaponry.
According to him, these worried officers contend that in the event of potential civil unrest, the attrition rate on professional soldiers could rise significantly because they may be facing political thugs who have been trained in top-level military combat skills.
Already, there are pictures and letters purportedly showing thugs aligned to the NPP being trained at Asutuary in the guise of National Security.
Whatsup News recently intercepted two letters. One was written by written on January 28, 2019, by one Capt. (Rtd) Simon Ansu Tengabo to all NPP Constituency Chairmen to submit names of party thugs to be conscripted as “Election 2020 Security Team”.
Capt. Tengabo believed to be one of the military consultants for the ruling NPP then, recommended that a leader of the party’s militia in all the constituencies plus ten others should be trained in such a way that they can come back to train polling station agents.
Not long afterwards, another letter allegedly written on May 12, 2019, on the letterhead of the NPP by the National Organiser of the party, Sammy Awuku, clearly stated the agenda to train party militia at Asutuare purposely for election 2020.
The letter was addressed to the National Security Minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah and copied to the Interior, Defence and the Minister of State in charge of National Security.
However, when Whatsup News published the content of this letter, a message supposedly emanating from Mr. Awuku and circulated via social media, denied the letter, inferring that it was a fake letter possibly forged by hoaxers.
Recently, the violence unleashed by a group of party vigilantes attached to the National Security agency prompted President Akufo Addo to institute a commission of enquiry headed retired judge and renowned human rights advocate, Justice Emile Short. The report of the Short Commission made a number of recommendations, including strict punishment to those responsible for the violence in Ayawaso. However, the Akufo Addo administration issued a White Paper that rubbished about 53% of these recommendations.