Fellow Citizens, when President Akufo-Addo says we need to get ahead of Islamist and Militant threats (see www.france24.com/en/video/20220217), is it not wrong to assume he is “scared of his shadow,” as some political analysts want Ghanaians to believe?
I have researched the subject of the threat of violent extremism and terrorism in the Upper West and Upper East Regions and other parts of the Northern Sector, and I can state emphatically that the threat of Jihadists, Extremists and Terrorists along our borders is real!
I was in Bawku when terrorists attacked a Burkinabe village, Wariwewu, on Sunday, 30th January, 2022 killing 12 people and carting away several villages as conscripts.
Wariwewu is some 10 to 12 km from the Ghanaian border towns of Kulungugu and Sapeliga.
Even though bullets were flying indiscrimately in Bawku and its environs because of the Kusasi/Mamprusi conflict, I managed to drive 30 km from Bawku to Sapeliga to interview the people and to observe their fear and panic
It is our fellow citizens in the Upper East Region (and the Upper West, Savannah, North East and Northern Regions) who will be direct victims of any terrorist attacks.
President Akufo-Addo is from Kyebi, Akropong and, Nima, I observed that he has no personal properties which can be the subject of terrorist attacks in Bole, Wa, Sombo, Dafiama, Lawra, Jirapa, Nakolo, Hamile, Tumu, Chiana, Chuchuliga, Navrongo, Paga, Sirigu, Mirigu, Namon, Bolgatanga, Zuarungu, Zebila, Bawku, Mognori, Kulungugu, Pusiga Widana, Pulmakom and Tamale!
Apart from his presidential responsibility and duty of care to all citizens, President Akufo-Addo has no direct relatives who patronize the schools, markets, worship centres, hotels, motels, palaces, chop bars and drinking spots, sports fields, etc. in the Northern Sector that can be attacked by jihadists, extremists and terrorists!
So, fellow Ghanaians, the threat of jihadists, extremists and terrorists is not a headache for only President Akufo-Addo. It is our collective personal, societal and national security problem.
Can we think through innovative ways of funding the efforts to counter and prevent violent extremism and terrorism in Ghana?!
Owula Mangortey
Dodowa
20th February, 2022