The dilemma of security personnel in the Third World
The writer of this article was a senior member of the Ghana security organisation for many years. He attended training courses in the Soviet Union, Israel, Britain and the USA. He sees the issues raised by the recent CIA spy stories in Ghana from the perspective of the security operatives of Third World countries. Although he no longer serves in the Ghana security services, he asks for his identity to be withheld.The recent swapping between the USA and Ghana of Ghanaians convicted of espionage in the USA and in Ghana, raises a number of interesting issues concerning Third World Security Organisations and their personnel. In this article I intend to discuss the role of security organisations in the Third World, their relationship with security organisations of advanced countries, and the implications this relationship have for Third World security organisations and their personnel. I shall draw my examples from Ghana, a country whose security set-up I have a good knowledge of.
Briefly, the role of a security organisation is to prevent subversion and espionage. Espionage in the Third World is mainly used to promote subversion. Subversion in this sense means seeking to take over political power by unlawful means, means other than those specified in the constitution of the country. In a Third World country like Ghana subversion eventually culminates in a coup d'etat. In its early stages, subversion takes the form of various activities calculated to undermine the government and to prepare the minds of the people for the eventual overthrow of the government.
Ghana's security organisation was set up in the late forties by the colonial government to report on the activities of political agitators. The definition of the offence of subversion can be overstretched and used to harass genuine political opposition if there are no independent courts which will try persons accused of countries. subversion.
In Ghana subversion is a criminal offence which is codified in the Criminal Code Act of 1960. Espionage is an offence under the States Secret Act. What the security organisation does is to detect and investigate cases of subversion and espionage and eventually apprehend suspects. Such suspects are later prosecuted by the Attorney-General's office. It is noteworthy that various military regimes, which came to power through subversion have found it necessary to enact draconian laws to deal with subversion. What they have failed to do is to ensure that such laws are interpreted by an independent judiciary.
Officers of Ghana's security organ- isation are police officers who have been trained to deal with subversion, espionage and related offences. Some started their careers as ordinary police recruits who were later in their career selected for training to work for the security organisation. Others started their police career as direct recruits into the security organisation, which until 31st December 1981 was known as the Special Branch of the Police Service. After the December 31, 1981, coup it was renamed Bureau of National Investigation. Its functions have however not changed. A sister organisation of the Special Branch is the Military Intelligence which, among other things, deals with subversion and espionage in their initial stages within the armed forces.
In the performance of its functions the security organisation in the Third World seek outside help in the form of equip- ment, skills and cooperation. This is found necessary because subversionists do not confine their activities within the borders of their own country. Subversive and espionage activities may originate in a foreign country by nationals who live abroad or by a foreign power. The import- ance of local knowledge and the need to blend with the locality while conducting certain types of investigation makes it necessary to have friendly relationships with security organisations of other Even among advanced countries this sort of cooperation is found necessary.
To acquire certain skills and knowledge personal security organisations in the Third World attend courses in the advanced countries. While there, they are exposed to the security organisations of the advanced countries who get to know them very well and may be able to exploit their weaknesses and strengths when the need arises in the future. On certain occasions instructors and technicians from advanced countries travel to Third World countries to organise courses for security personnel and to install equipment.
As a result the strengths and weak- nesses of security organisations in the Third World are no secrets to security organisations of countries like the USA, West and East Germany, Israel and the Soviet Union. More importantly the security organisations do not get the opportunity to grow, mature and be efficient.
Again, on such occasions they get to know the security personnel, security equipment and installations in the country. These are all invaluable knowledge which may be used in the future. Let us take the case of Ghana to illustrate this point. Ghana's security organisations have cooperated closely with British, American, Israeli, German and Soviet security organisations at one time or the other depending on the inclination of the government at a particular time.
Inspector Peasah who was swapped recently had before his retirement worked for the Special Branch of Ghana for over 20 years. In the course of this period he attended courses organised by British, American and Soviet instructors. These courses were run in Accra, London, Washington or in Moscow. I am quite sure he is well-known and documented by the security organisations of these countries, he could therefore have been asked for help by agents of any of these countries depending on the circumstances at the time. The same applies to Chief Superintendent S.B. Ofusu-Addo, a communications engineer who had been with the Special Branch for about fifteen years before his imprisonment.
The unnecessary exposure through courses can be avoided if the security organisations themselves enjoy stability, and only their experienced training officers are made to attend courses organised by foreign security organisations. The knowledge they acquire can be passed on to other officers at courses organised locally.
As things are at present, the security organisations are always being re-organised with the frequent changes of governments, and old and new security personnel are always being exposed to different foreign security organisations.
In the Third World countries the position of security personnel is an unenviable one. In countries where subversionists of yesterday are the government of today security personnel suffer death, imprisonment, persecution, dismissal, and at best redeployment. In such a situation only a few can perform their duty without fear or favour.
