Wake Up Security Details!!!

In Ghana, many things are taken for granted more so when these fall within the security realm.

That is why when there is a surge in the influx of youth from Niger to the country, most of them engaging in okada business in both Accra and Kumasi as it is the reality today, eyebrows are hardly raised. In the face of this reality, we the non-state actors and our compatriots employed to manage national security think there is no cause for alarm.

In fact, out of ignorance some see the economic migrants, yet security threats, as originating from the northern parts of Ghana and, therefore, citizens.

Unfortunately, that is not the case, the ease with which these youthful Niger nationals migrate to Ghana without hindrance points at a security challenge which needs addressing. Their country is no longer part of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the junta leaders in Niger having exited the economic bloc to form their own Sahelian group, in which case the protocol free staying in member countries for 90 days is inapplicable.

Intelligence shows that when they arrive, their compatriots already established in Ghana purchase the motorbikes for them to start business, a flagrant violation of existing law on migration. Coming from boko haram and ISIL infested parts of West Africa requires that we alter the orders to our security at the frontiers.

A couple of days ago, a military convoy escorting passengers on their way to Bolga from Bawku was attacked, leaving ten dead; three passengers and seven assailants – the proximity from the crime scene and security-challenged Burkina Faso providing an important ingredient for thought.

In Mali, a country which shares borders with Burkina Faso, the Azawad Liberation Front, militants with ISIL and Al Qaeda linkage, is making security inroads, the Defence Minister of the country having died in a recent truck suicide bomb operation by the militants.

The militants were reported to have besieged Bamako, the capital, and even taken over a town after an agreement with Russian Africa Corps troops to vacate a place they had secured until then.

Given their arsenal, sophisticated networking with other militants in the wider Islamist agenda with Burkina Faso in their sight, need we not open our eyes and stop taking things for granted?

Have we already done an audit of the possible movements of arms from Mali through Burkina Faso and possibly into Ghana's insecure Bawku and its environs?

It would be important to determine the origin of seized assault rifles in any part of the Bawku hotspots so we would be able to tell the extent to which the conflicts in Mali and Burkina Faso are impacting our security.

While we are aware about the importance of not divulging some intelligence details to the public, we nonetheless demand that whatever activities are taking place to secure our borders, these must be heightened to ensure that these youthful migrants from Niger do not make Ghana their home, because of the security impact this could have upon us as a nation at this time of insecurity in the West African sub-region.

This is the umpteenth time we are commenting on this important subject. It is our hope that it would receive due attention from the relevant stakeholders.

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