Ghanaians have been advised to be on guard and vigilantly protect themselves against any possible terrorism threats.
The issue of terrorism has become a serious matter of concern in Africa, particularly West Africa and the Middle East, after some terrorists unleashed attacks on some countries on the continent.
Countries such as Togo and Cote d'Ivoire have been attacked by terrorists in recent times.
This seems to leave Ghanaians with fears that the terrorists may inflitrate the nation.
As a result, some security experts have sent signals ahead for the citizenry to stay on guard.
A Regional Coordinator at the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding, Dr Festus Aubyn has called on schools to tighten their security measures following cautions from the National Security that the country is a target for terrorists.
“As school authorities, they should ensure that there is some form of security measures in schools. Security measures for schools are key, especially as there is a heightened threat of terrorism...Most of the students are ignorant of terrorism and its related activities and can easily fall prey to them on social media. So, parents and even the students themselves need to be mindful of their activities online...There is good reason to believe that the terrorists operating within the region have Ghana as a target and there is the need to increase security measures and engage the public to be more careful,” he said in an interview with Ghana News Agency.
Touching on the issue during a panel discussion programme "Kokrokoo" on Peace FM, Collins Owusu Amankwah, a former Member of Parliament for Manhyia North, sought to allay the fears of the citizenry.
Although acknowledging the terrorist incidents in the neighbouring countries and advising Ghanaians to be security-conscious to avoid terrorism on the motherland, Hon. Owusu Amankwah however believed "Ghana is safe".
According to him, any person who claims Ghana's insecure is a liar and should be disregarded.
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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Collins Amankwa, you are not a soldier, police man, immigration officer, national security operative. Leave those who have been employed and trained to deal with security issues. It's the IGP or chief of defence staff who can assure the citizens of our safety against terrorism. The challenge with most Ghanaians however is that we easily welcome anybody with the assumption that once the person is a human being and more so a stranger he or she must be assisted, that's fine but fact is the times have changed. Once you see an unknown person in your vicinity be interested in the movements of such people. Don't assume. In Ghana you see people from neighboring countries cross into Ghana and nobody seems to care, in nearby Burkina Faso you move with your identity documents on a daily basis like a vehicle with it's insurance and road worthy certificates. The interesting thing about the human being is that however big the population of your area is you can easily detect a stranger through his looks and movements, if you are indegene of Accra, Kumasi or tamale or have stayed there for long you can easily predict this person is a stranger. I wish government passes a law that requires every Ghanaian or foreigner to move with his or her Ghana card or passport when going out on a daily basis. The police and immigration service should be given the power to ask anybody for his or her identity through a source document. Currently those of us living close to our foreign neighbors are not safe, especially regions sharing boundaries with Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Togo. Military patrols should be intensified in these regions. The head may say it care less about a fight. However it's the first to hit the ground if there is a fall. To be forewarned is to be for armed.