{"id":116073,"date":"2026-02-19T17:15:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T17:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=116073"},"modified":"2026-02-19T17:15:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T17:15:54","slug":"majority-minority-clash-over-bill-to-revert-nib-name-to-bni-and-overhaul-national-security-structure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=116073","title":{"rendered":"Majority, Minority clash over bill to revert NIB name to BNI and overhaul national security structure"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 42 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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A proposed Security and Intelligence Agencies Bill triggered heated exchanges in Parliament, as the government moves to restructure Ghana\u2019s national security architecture and change the name of the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) back to Bureau of National Intelligence (BNI).<\/p>\n

The bill, laid before Parliament by the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, on Thursday, February 19, seeks to address what the government describes as public confusion between the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) and the National Investment Bank, which share the same acronym.<\/p>\n

Under the proposed law, the intelligence agency will revert to the name Bureau of National Intelligence (BNI), distinct from its former historical title, Bureau of National Investigation.<\/p>\n

The bill also proposes a major restructuring of national security governance by scrapping the Ministry for National Security, with oversight functions to be exercised through the Presidency.<\/p>\n

\"Majority,<\/figure>\n

Presenting the bill, Mr. Mohammed-Mubarak argued that the reforms are necessary to streamline coordination and avoid institutional conflicts.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, we have a situation where you say NIB, people are wondering whether you are talking about the bank or the security agency. So one of the significant things we are trying to do is to reintroduce the name BNI\u2026 Bureau of National Intelligence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that the new structure is intended to prevent conflict between a Minister for National Security and the National Security Coordinator, stressing that coordination should be firmly anchored under the President with ministerial oversight rather than a standalone ministry.<\/p>\n

However, the proposals immediately drew strong opposition from the Minority, who described the bill as flawed, overly centralising power, and lacking safeguards.<\/p>\n

Former Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul, questioned the policy rationale behind the reforms, warning that the changes could create instability and weaken accountability.<\/p>\n

\"Majority,<\/figure>\n

\u201cIf in four years you are no more in power, are we expecting a new government to also bring a new Act to reflect their direction?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be dangerous for this nation to make that office and agency so powerful without proper accountability. It\u2019s a misplaced priority, and if you do that, you\u2019ll suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin also rejected the bill, arguing that it is politically motivated rather than driven by evidence-based governance.<\/p>\n

\"Majority,<\/figure>\n

\u201cThe memorandum before us does not provide any empirical evidence to suggest that Act 1030 has failed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much power is being given to the coordinator, and it is not clear how his powers are going to be fettered. <\/p>\n

\u201cWithout clear responsibility, accountability and oversight, this becomes problematic. When citizens\u2019 rights are abused, it will be justified in the name of national security.\u201d<\/p>\n

He called for further consultations and amendments to incorporate concerns raised by the Minority.<\/p>\n

\"Majority,<\/figure>\n

Responding to the criticism, the Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, defended the bill, describing it as a correction of what he termed a \u201chistorical wrong\u201d created by the previous administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided to cut down the number of ministers, and among the ministries we guillotined was the Ministry for National Security,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you [NPP] did was to force the hand of a President to appoint a Minister for National Security. It was a wrong thing for us to have done as a Parliament, and this historical wrong has to be corrected.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A proposed Security and Intelligence Agencies Bill triggered heated exchanges in Parliament, as the government moves to restructure Ghana\u2019s national security architecture and change the name of the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) back to Bureau of National Intelligence (BNI).<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":116074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17184,1969,1883,1493,10,9,17189,1887],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bni","category-hp-news-3","category-national","category-national-security","category-politics","category-popular","category-security-and-intelligence-agencies-bill","category-top-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/116074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}