Communication Team Member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Padmore Baffour Agyapong has called for the immediate dismissal of members of Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s security detail.
According to him, actions and inactions of his (Dr. Bawumia) security detail put him at risk at the funeral of the former CEO of the Forestry Commission, and one time General Secretary of the governing New Patriotic Party, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, affectionately called Sir John.
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“I have a big issue with handlers of the Vice President and even the police to have allowed the drumming, dancing and all that to have happened around Dr. Bawumia. This is sad. Why would you put the country’s Vice President at risk? Someone will say the Vice President should’ve withdrawn from the crowd but let’s not focus on that. If I had my way, I would’ve fired the security detail of Dr. Bawumia who were with him on that day,” he said.
In an interview with Don Kwabena Prah on Happy98.9FM’s Epa Hoa Daben political talk show, Padmore noted that he is passionate about this decision being taken because if it is not done, “people will start saying it is okay for politicians to disregard COVID-19 safety protocols but market women, churches and the likes cannot do so.”
He believes President Akufo-Addo who was also present at the funeral should have established his authority and called them to order but did not.
The politician admitted that incidents at Sir John’s funeral over the weekend were not proper and appealed to the presidency to issue an apology rather than try to justify them.
A number of institutions have expressed dissatisfaction over what it calls a total disregard for COVID-19 protocols at the burial of Sir John.
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Some pictures and videos from the event that went viral on social media showed how some mourners were neither wearing nose masks nor observing social distancing.
In one of the videos, scores of NPP supporters who were not wearing nose masks, clad in funeral attire and T-shirts of the late Sir John, huddled around the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia when his delegation arrived at the funeral grounds with his security detail looking on.
