The Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery says if he is provided with evidence that the De-Eye group is a security company which is operating illegally, as has been claimed by some people following a Joy News, he will investigate them.
According to him, none of the checks he had conducted on the group since the Joy News documentary aired, showed that they are a security company and he is prepared to act once Joy News gives him enough evidence to back their claims.
“People came to my Ministry to make enquiries and they said there was a security organisation by that name and I said ‘no, we do not have that’. We conducted checks, none, we went to the police, none so there is no security group by that name,” Mr Dery told AM Show host, Kojo Yankson in an interview.
The Joy News documentary titled ‘Militia in the heart of the Nation’ which revealed how a pro-New Patriotic Party (NPP) militia group is being trained at the ChristiansborgCastle in Osu, was aired early March.
The undercover work disclosed how a former bodyguard of the president is leading the training of the militia group, De-Eye, on the grounds of public property.
Operating for the past two years, the documentary found that the group had already provided security for a number of government functions of which the president had taken part in.
A leader of the group, Nana Wireko Addo in the undercover work, after one of such functions, conveyed President Akufo-Addo’s warm impressions of the group when they provided security for an event at the International Conference Centre in 2018.
The documentary shocked the nation as it came at a time when President Akufo-Addo tasked the two leading political parties – NPP and NDC – to meet and find a solution to the party militia menace in the country.
Related: Joy News' rebuttal to gov't over militia exposé
Contrary to Joy News findings that the group was registered as a security company and clearly stated on their website, the Interior Minister said there is no such record of a security company registered as De-Eye.
“It transpires that the group is registered, more or less as an employment agency not as a security organisation but I was still watching to see whether I will see some exercises or activities that show security and I will tell the police ‘move in’ but I have not seen that,” Mr Dery said.
Related: Joy News exposé: Gov't denies Osu Castle is a “security zone”
He also denied claims that members of the De-Eye group provided security during a function at the International Conference Centre in Accra last year.
He said the programme, which he attended was organised by the Dombo family – one of the founders of the governing NPP tradition – and had nothing to do with the state.
“When they showed the video, that group – De-Eye - was in attendance and some were standing outside, does that make the security,” Mr Dery queried.
“I attended that function, I did not see those people play any role at all,” he said, adding that “give me evidence and I will investigate.”
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