MAHAMA TIGHTENS SECURITY

Posted on: http://dailyguideafrica.com/mahama-tightens-security/

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

President John Dramani Mahama has beefed up his security detail with sniffing dogs and uniformed bodyguards.

It is not clear why the sudden change of security arrangements of the president, but a presidency source says it might have been done in the wake of threats of possible terror attacks on Ghana and the president’s security being paramount, they needed to go that way.

The new security arrangements are visible in President Mahama’s ongoing nationwide tour dubbed, “Accounting to the People,” as soldiers could be seen with sniffer dogs at venues where the president has been meeting a gathering of chiefs and people.

The newly introduced uniformed bodyguards are also around the president as he embarks on the tour. Tomorrow he is beginning the Brong-Ahafo regional tour and the sniffer dogs would be part of the entourage.

Officials were tight-lipped about the introduction of dogs as part of the president’s security detail, but a Flagstaff House inside source says the dogs are meant to sniff the possible presence of bomb.

The dogs, seen with the military police, are said to be well trained to detect bomb in the wake of the terror alert by Al-Qaeda elements, particularly with the government hosting two foot soldiers of the terrorist group under an arrangement with the United States government.

Also, apart from the usual heavily armed military cum police presence, the president’s very close protection officers could be seen wearing what looked like a special uniform, mostly of various brands of khaki. They were seen in green, brown, blue and off-white khaki. 

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The dressing of most of the members in the security detail looked as if they were a private protection team put together for the president.

The security dogs were first seen in the Krobo area when the president visited the Eastern Region. They were then taken to the Volta Region and according to sources, they had become part of the president’s daily movement, including being taken to church, according to the inside source.

In the Western Region, the bodyguards wore grey khaki uniforms while in Kroboland, they wore something close to olive green khaki tops with black pairs of trousers to match.

The National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), chaired by the president, recently confirmed imminent Al-Qaeda attack on Ghana.

According to the Security Council, Ghana is the next target after the attack on Cote d’Ivoire.

“Intelligence gathered by the National Security Council Secretariat indicates a possible terrorist attack on the country is real,” a leaked statement indicated.

According to the NSCS, “The threat is reinforced by information and confessions obtained from interrogating a Malian terrorist identified as the brain behind the Grand Bassam attacks in Cote d’Ivoire. The suspect is being investigated by the Ivorian security agencies for terrorism,” the Security Council posited further.

It said reports showed that “Ghana and Togo are the next targets after the attacks in Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire,” adding that “The choice of Ghana, according to the report, is to take away the perception that only  francophone countries are the targets.”