Demolishing Legon toll booth required "common courtesy" - Kweku Baako

The Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako has criticised the National Security Council (NSC) for demolishing a University of Ghana toll booth at Okponglo Tuesday.

Mr Baako described the action as “needless and avoidable”, noting that the public “hue and cry” that has trailed the demolition could undermine the integrity of the NSC.

In Baako's opinion, the university should not have built the toll booth, however the manner in which the NSC demolished it was unlawful, and disrespectful to the university.

He told Accra-based Peace FM Wednesday that the claim by the NSC to the effect that the toll booth constituted a “public nuisance” was unsustainable.

According to him, there was at least 100 other places in the country where some public activities could be said to constitute ‘public nuisance’.

“I don’t know the legal basis for the action,” he said. “At what point in time does public nuisance constitute a national security threat?”.

Mr Baako said even if the toll booth posed a threat to national security, “common courtesy” required that the NSC informed the governing council or vice chancellor of the university about the decision to pull it down.

Such a move, he said, would have been in the interest of good governance and the rule of law.

The New Crusading Guide Editor noted that the university itself could have pulled down the toll booth - sparing the NSC the criticism that has characterised the demolition.