Richard Jakpa, the recently hired Director for Special Operations at the National Security Council Secretariat, led a group of roughly 20 armed men in a blatant raid on the home of former Bank of Ghana Governor Dr. Ernest Addison on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, in yet another unsettling act of state-sanctioned aggression.
The agents, wearing face masks and balaclavas, broke into the building more like a criminal gang than a legitimate security operation.
Jakpa unplugged all CCTV cameras as soon as he entered the property, apparently to make sure that no footage of the operation could be recorded.
He allegedly asked to know the location of a money-filled vault in a startling change of events, a charge that Dr. Addison categorically denied.
The raid had no obvious reason, even though a High Court search warrant was produced.
The agents searched every room of the house, searching through personal items before stealing valuables like technological devices. Suspicions that this was more about harassment and intimidation than law enforcement have been bolstered by the operation’s aggressive tone.
Jakpa had before been in charge of an operation this contentious.
He was the focal point of an unlawful raid on former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta’s home.
Since this operation was carried out without a warrant, the state security agency has been sued.
Serious concerns are raised by the most recent event regarding the growing use of state security agencies as instruments of political repression. Democracy and the core tenets of justice are being directly attacked by this blatant incursion.
When an unlawful operation is carried out with the support of state security, it heralds a perilous slide into authoritarianism, where political grudges are covered up as national security missions and force triumphs over the rule of law.
It is unacceptable to heedlessly use national security as a weapon for political purposes. It reveals a perilous notion: that authority gives one the right to use any methods required to silence critics.
In a nation where security forces act without consequence and treat political opponents as enemies who should be pursued and defeated, no citizen is safe.
This raid is a blatant misuse of authority and a sobering reflection of the direction this government is taking.
When people who disagree with the ruling class are exposed to home invasions by the military, democracy cannot thrive.
Before this egregious violation becomes the new norm, every Ghanaian who values justice and the rule of law must speak out against it.
Source: newsthemegh.com