Security Analyst Dr. Kwesi Aning has strongly criticized government’s handling of the removal of the Director of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).
Rashid Seidu Inusah has been dismissed in the wake of increasing cases of kidnappings, with his deputy asked to take over management of the State security agency as part of its transformation.
But Dr. Aning who’s Director, Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research at the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Centre (KAIPC) in an interview said the manner in which Mr Seidu Inusah was relieved of his position could send wrong signals to his subordinates.
The BNI is a unique institution which in the last couple of months has been transformed under Ambassador Inusah’s leadership in terms of making meritocracy and institutional reform the fulcrum around which his leadership revolved. This is a very senior official and if you look at the manner in which his predecessor was also told to leave and now Mr Inusah it raises broader concerns about what we want to do with our intelligence services, how we expect them to perform, how we expect inter-agency partnerships and collaborations to turn out and even more importantly how we tell senior officers who have served this country properly without any blemish on their reputation will send a signal to junior officers how they will be treated were they in the same position.”
Dr Aning added: “Intelligence and security operatives need to be assured and reassured that their services are respected and that when it’s time for them to leave they will leave nicely.”
