Former Defence Minister and Bimbilla MP Dominic Nitiwul has criticised President John Mahama over what he describes as a gap in Ghana’s security leadership

He warned that the continued absence of a substantive Defence Minister is exposing weaknesses in the country’s security architecture.

His comments follow the recent terrorist attack on Ghanaian tomato traders in Burkina Faso, an incident he says requires urgent, high-level intervention from the Defence Ministry.

According to Mr Nitiwul, the scale and cross-border nature of the attack demand focused leadership, intelligence coordination and direct engagement with authorities in Burkina Faso, responsibilities he insists fall squarely within the mandate of a Defence Minister.

He argued that leaving the position without a substantive occupant risks weakening Ghana’s preparedness at a time when the West African sub-region is facing heightened security threats.

“I just think that the Ghanaian government must be explaining to us what happened, the circumstances,” he said.

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“They've come out officially with some statement, but we want a detailed explanation, either by the Foreign Minister or by the Defence Minister.”

He maintained that by now, a Defence Minister should have travelled to Burkina Faso with a team to engage counterparts and oversee investigations.

“That’s why I kept on calling that the President should have appointed a Defence Minister, because by this time the Minister for Defence should have been on the flight to Burkina with his team,” he stated.

Mr Nitiwul stressed that the responsibility does not lie with the Interior Minister, noting that internal security oversight ends at Ghana’s borders.

“This is not the job of the Interior Minister. He’s my friend. Unfortunately, that’s not his job. If he goes there, he’ll go and meet the Defence Minister. It’s the soldiers who are fighting the terrorists. It’s not the Interior Minister’s job,” he said.

He further argued that it is the duty of the Defence Minister, working with defence intelligence and national security structures, to set up a team to investigate what happened, establish the circumstances leading to the attack and recommend measures to prevent a recurrence.