Countries that have experienced terrorist attacks only come together to fight it from recurring after the incident had occurred, Member of Parliament for North Tongu Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said.
This, he said, should not be the case.
Mr Ablakwa said Ghana must avoid that costly mistake and come together as one people to prevent this from occurring in the country.
“If there is a profound lesson to learn from terrorist attacks elsewhere, it is the regrets of those societies that they came together only after the attack. Let us all unite now like never before, and regardless of our differences, ensure that we are each other’s keeper,” he said in a tweet on Monday May 23.
Meanwhile, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said intelligence reports suggest that some Ghanaians have been involved in terrorist attacks in the Sahelian region.
What this signals is that there has been the possible recruitment of Ghanaians by some of these terrorist groups in the West African sub region, he said.
Addressing a press conference in Accra on Sunday May 22, the Ofoase Ayrebi lawmaker said “Government is announcing that it has put its security and intelligence agencies on increased awareness following the increasing number of terror threats and terror attacks and some worrisome intelligence reports that are closer to our borders.
“You would have observed, by now, that the West Africa region is in recent weeks inundated with attacks by extremist elements, some of which have occurred as closed as 50kilometers to Ghana’s northern frontiers.
“As recently as the 11th of May 2022 in Togo, about 10 military persons died as a result of one such terror attack. Increasingly, intelligence reports suggest that some Ghanaians have been involved in terrorist’s attacks in the Sahelian region. What this signals is that there has been the possible recruitment of Ghanaians by some of these terrorist groups in the West African sub region.
“The Ministry of National Security has authorized and increased level of awareness among the intelligence community and seeks to deepen engagement with the Ghanaian public in line with contemporary security practice.”
The Deputy National Security Coordinator, Mr Edward Kweku Asomani said during the press conference the nature of terrorism lately, requires extra vigilance on the part of all Ghanaians in order to prevent it from happening in the country.
He explained that the terrorists are adopting cunning and smart ways to carry out their attacks, ways that do not make their true identities immediately known.
They come in the form of religious leaders or Civil Society activists, he said.
Mr Asomani said “We are not insulated from those attacks therefore, we think Ghanaians should be aware. Why are we involving Ghanaians? The nature of the threats is such that it is not conventional warfare, they don’t come in with the APCs and fighter jets. They come in all forms, it could be your pastor in the church, cleric in the mosque, individuals coming in as CSOs purporting to do community work.
“That means that we all have to be vigilant. Also we know that the terrorists want access to the sea, the nature of the various attacks we have all seen in the subregion indicates that wherever they go there is some form of mineral or natural resource there particularly gold.
“So the question therefore is, if they attack cities and towns in Burkina Faso that has gold deposits, clearly, Ghana will be an interest.”
We are clearly therefore a target that is why we are here today to seek the support of Ghanaians.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana