A law lecturer at the Faculty of law of the University of Ghana, Mr Abdul Basit Aziz says Ghana’s democracy is the better for it when the New Patriotic Party is in opposition. That, he said, is because when the NPP is in opposition they test the country’s laws. “It’s good when the NPP is in opposition - thought I’m not saying that they should remain in opposition - because of how they test the law so that you have a general principle that is established for all of us,” he emphasized. Mr Aziz was contributing to discussions on the modus operandi of the Bureau of National Investigations on Joy FM’S News analysis Programme, Newsfile Saturday. He said, “People within the UP tradition usually tend to be very, very aggressive about the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms and rightly so. With the kind of constitution that we have it is important that we see more of that because the state is often a very powerful institution and the earlier you have people testing the limit of what the state can do, the better for us.” He said he was excited when a High Court ruled that the BNI had no right to seize the passport of former Foreign Minister Akwasi Osei Adjei. He recounted an encounter with the BNI when they arrested his client and charged him for Criminal Libel, a law that had been repealed. According to him, even when the court acquitted his client, the BNI rearrested him. “The BNI should be a bit more savvy in how they their work, he counseled. Mr Aziz said the drama surrounding the conduct of the BNI, and the theatricals adopted by supporters of former Information Minister, Stephen Asamoah Boateng who was arrested by the bureau, is unnecessary. For him, the BNI and the country do not need such divisive tendencies. “One would expect that the functions that other institutions can perform like the CID, let them do it. Let the BNI deal with the serious ones about national security, gathering intelligence, what have you,” he advised. The law lecturer suggested that the BNI should under a legal audit “let us see how they do things, let us see which ones don’t fall within the rules, and then let us see how we can change them for the benefit of all us.” Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline/Ghana