Ghanaians are sitting on tenterhooks following the prophesy by the Nigerian prophet, Prophet T.B. Joshua that, terrorists could strike in the country between today and Saturday. Whether this prophesy is really coming from God or not, The Chronicle is unable to comment on that. What we can say though is that, it has created fear and panic in the country, because most Ghanaians believe in the prophesies of the Nigerian Man of God.
To calm tempers and assure Ghanaians that they were in control of the internal security, the Police Administration has to quickly issue a statement that every security measure has been put in place and that there should not be fear and panic.
Despite this assurance, people are still afraid of going to public places. Believing in what Prophet TB Joshua is saying will depend on one's faith, the bigger picture though is that considering what has happened in our neighbouring countries, we cannot pretend that the country is safe from some of these terrorists attacks.
The Chronicle is, therefore, urging the government to craft a message that would not sound like creating fear and panic but actually educating Ghanaians to take their personal security serious. Elsewhere in the world, whenever one is seen loitering around aimlessly, it arouses suspicion and the police are immediately informed. The latter also act swiftly, but the situation is not the same in Ghana. We, therefore, need attitudinal change when it comes to our personal security.
Police personnel are not clairvoyants who can prognosticate what would happen in future. They always depend on information supplied to them by the public. The war against terrorism cannot, therefore, be fought without the input from the civilian population. But whilst calling on the public to support the police, the IGP and his men also have an equal duty of ensuring high standard of management.
We once upon a time used this column to question the overly respect being shown to people using land cruisers, Range Rovers and other expensive cars in this country. Despite the order issued by the Flagstaff House some three years ago that apart from the police, military, Fire Service and Ambulance, no other vehicle, no matter the status of the user, should be allowed to breach traffic regulation, the practice still persist.
In America, Europe, Canada and other places where the police respect the law but not human beings, such people would have been arrested and prosecuted, but not here in Ghana. The police look on as users of these expensive cars disregard traffic regulations with impunity. In some cases where they muster courage to stop them, their signals are ignored, but nothing is done to apprehend them.
Since terrorists are well funded, they wouldn't mind exploiting these loopholes by driving some of these expensive cars, full of explosives, to wreak havoc on this country knowing very well that the police would not stop them. A few years ago, the police arrested a land cruiser driver at a spot near Juapong in the Volta Region, who had stashed a large cache of ammunitions in his car.
But for the fact that a Good Samaritan gave the police a tip off, the driver would have driven through all the check points along the route to the North, the destination for the weapons, without being detected because the police would always be afraid to check the car.
That particular arrest should have forced the police to stop the respect they have for owners of these expensive cars, but as usual the tradition goes on. The Chronicle is, therefore, calling on Mr. John Kudalor and his men to wake up and do proper security motoring before terrorists exploit the situation to perpetrate crime on us. As the adage goes, a stitch in time saves nine.