Arms Registries To Be Installed Nationwide

The Ghana Police Service has been directed to install arms registries across the country as part of measures by the government to properly control weapons. Additionally, the government is also taking steps to ensure a good stockpile management, as well as branding and tracing of official weapons, to deal with the impunity with which small arms are being used for violent crimes and conflicts in the country. The President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, who made this known, said, �We have committed ourselves to eliminating armed violence and the proliferation of small arms in Ghana, as well as the West African sub region.� He made the remark in a speech read on his behalf by the Minister of the Interior, Mr Cletus Avoka, at a forum on the proliferation of small arms and light weapons organized by the West Africa Action Network on Small Arms (WAANSA) � Ghana Chapter. The event also marked the inauguration of the WAANSA � Ghana Chapter, bringing to 12 the number of national chapters established under the aegis of the sub-regional network of civil society organizations committed to the fight against the proliferation of small arms. According to the Ghana Police Service, about 90 per cent of guns used by armed robbers arrested in the county were locally manufactured. The security agencies have also raised concern over the use of small arms and light weapons in conflict situations in some parts of the country. President Mills observed that conventional arms and ammunition trade and transfers were causing gross violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, adding that they were undermining efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), since no development was possible without durable peace and human security. He said in line with the government�s efforts at dealing with the menace of small arms, the Ghana National Commission on Small Arms had been reconstituted with the view of facilitating proper gun control. �We believe in demonstrating responsibility and accountability, especially when it comes to arms importation and exportation,� he said. The president gave the assurance that Parliament would soon ratify the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms, their Ammunition and other Related Materials, while pledging the government�s commitment to play its role at the UN to ensure that the global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) was carefully negotiated.