WhatsUp News has picked up information that Albert Kan Dapaah, the current Minister for National Security is about to be removed and replaced.
The change, as we have been learning, is part of a seismic shakeup that the Akufo-Addo Jubilee House is angling to effect at National Security.
Our insider information reveals that Mr. Dapaah is likely to be replaced by Minister of State at the Ministry of Interior, Bryan Acheampong.
Also, the shakeup will see the current National Security Coordinator, Major General Francis Adu Amanfo (Rtd), replaced with Edward Kwaku Asomani who is the Executive Director of pro-NPP political pressure group, Danquah Institute.
According to information, the changes will be purposed to infill the top brass of National Security with New Patriotic Party (NPP) hardliners as the Kan Dapaah administration is deemed to be rather docile and also a realization that the ratings of the Akufo Addo administration had dipped considerably among Ghanaians.
Several secret intelligence gathering operations by National Security have also confirmed that the unpopularity of the government makes it vulnerable to destabilization that could be sparked at any time, sources have said.
Consequently, as a safety measure, the regime feels tightening up National Security by appointing in place ultra-loyal party hardliners is the way to go.
And Bryan Acheampong, cuts the character rather finely – a former US military officer, insiders say he is the kind of NPP loyalist who can be relied upon to be a party gladiator if need be.
It would be recalled that as Minister of State in Charge at National Security, Bryan Acheampong masterminded the bloody Ayawaso West-Wuogon gun violence against unarmed NDC supporters in early 2017 on the blind side of the ebbing Kan Dapaah.
Bryan had organized the bloody “Ninja” squad at National Security which had stormed the by-election in masks and attacked unarmed civilians, including the MP for Ningo Prampram, Sam George Nartey.
Later, a Presidential Commission, the Emile Short Commission, would raise questions about how exactly Bryan Acheampong could raise such a squad despite not being the substantive Minister.
He has since not been prosecuted despite calls for punitive actions against him.
It is believed that after the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence, Bryan Acheampong had had a falling out with Kan Dapaah. The chaotic relationship between Dapaah and Bryan is believed to be what had led to a slay queen girlfriend of Kan Dapaah, secretly recording their tryst in Europe and circulating the video to disgrace Kan Dapaah.
Bryan would later be moved to the Interior Ministry as a Minister of State. However, the whole slay queen episode has since been a blot on the reputation of Kan Dapaah and is said to have also become grounds for agitation within the ruling party for Kan Dapaah to be removed.
According to sources, however, the tryst with the slay queen is not what has led to Jubilee House’s consideration of a replacement of Kan Dapaah with the more gladiatorial Bryan Acheampong – the heavy dip in the government’s popularity is.
Within the NPP, there is the sense that in the party’s quest to “break the eight” alternation of parties in power, the party needs to re-energize its grassroots, largely made up of party vigilantes who have been drafted into National Security.
Despite all his faults, Kan Dapaah is a highly respected professional who may not exactly tolerate a repeat of things like the Ayawaso West-Wuogon violence and so even though the ruling party has reportedly managed to pollute the Military, the Police and other security agencies with party goons, these goons are not going to have the kind of latitude that Bryan Acheampong gave them.
And so, in order to get the party goons another leash on life in respect of the next election, the Akufo-Addo government needs a gladiator in place of the professional Kan Dapaah, hence the upcoming shakeup.
Sources have however said that the move will not be received with enthusiasm within National Security because Kan Dapaah is a highly respected professional credited with reforms in National Security that has won him many friends within the establishment.
Also, the professional soldiers in the military have not been exactly enthused about the disgrace that the misbehavior of NPP goons in National Security have been bringing both the army and the Police.