The statement credited to Abubakar Tsav is another failed attempt by the former police commissioner to smear the name and office of Governor Samuel Ortom.
Tsav is quoted in the interview to have made reference to the televised interview by Terwase Akwaza aka Ghana in which the latter claimed to have aquired guns from Special Adviser on Security, Colonel Edwin Jando rtd.
What Tsav failed to hear is that Col. Jando dismissed the claim in the same television documentary. Even if Ghana's claim was to be taken seriously, the fact that he did not claim to have bought arms from a government official in the present administration renders Tsav's attempt to implicate the Governor a mere tantrum that it is. Tsav also failed to hear that Ghana's claim to have acquired weapons from a government official (which was dismissed by Col. Jando) dates back to 2007, a time Ortom was not the Governor.
Tsav failed to remember that when Governor Ortom granted amnesty to armed youths, he made it clear that the programme had two phases - the carrot and stick approaches. The Governor warned those embracing the amnesty that if they returned to their old ways, the stick approach would be used against them. That is exactly what is going on at the moment. Some of the persons who embraced the amnesty programme have returned to their former ways so the stick approach is in operation.
It is therefore wrong for Tsav or anyone else to say that the amnesty programme has failed. No, it has not failed because right from day one, the Government knew that the possibility of some of the persons being disarmed returning to their past routes did exist.
Tsav made another laughable claim that the Governor planned to use Ghana for 2019 elections. Really? The simple question is this; how many militia groups or thugs did Ortom use in 2015 to win the governorship race? If Samuel Ortom who was not an incumbent Governor could defeat the candidate of the then ruling party without the use of violence, is it now that he has the opportunity to campaign for himself through good governance that he would hire thugs to work for him?
Who even told Tsav that Governor Ortom is talking about 2019? The former police commissioner needs be told that Governor Ortom is not talking about 2019 elections. The Governor is barely one year and three months in the 4-year mandate given to him by the people and he is committed to fulfilling the promises he made to the people. He does not need the sort of distraction that Tsav and others are engaged in.
I expect the retired police officer to objectively critique government policies and actions with a view to making useful recommendations. That's what elders who love their states do.
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