ISIS recruitment reports must be taken seriously - Fritz Baffour

Chairman of Parliament's Select Committee on Defense and Interior, Fritz Baffour, says reports of alleged recruitment of some Ghanaian youth into the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria, (ISIS) cannot be taken lightly as far as Ghana's stability is concerned.

There are reports 25-year old Ghanaian, Nazir Nortei Alema, a graduate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), may have joined ISIS in Iraq or Syria.

Information on his move to join the group went viral, as some reports revealed Alema had informed his family of his decision in a text message and is now nowhere to be found.

Since the news broke out, reports have emerged suggesting a possible recruitment process underway in Ghana to brainwash some Ghanaian youth largely Muslims, to join the group.

Mr. Fritz Baffour told TV3 Midday Live on Thursday that, Parliament's Select Committee on Defense and Interior will soon meet on the matter as members are currently on recess.

He says for a stable country like Ghana, such reports cannot be taken lightly.

Already, the National Security is said to have commenced investigations into the matter since Nazir's family made a report to them.

"We are going to meet on it as soon as possible. We are on recess, and most of our members are now preparing to go for their primaries. I don't think the situation will worsen because I can assure you that the security agencies in Ghana have it in hand, and they are strategizing looking at the implications of what has happened so far. It's a serious matter because the world is now being threatened by non-state actors; there are groups that are ready to mess up nations, so we have to take it seriously. Any threat to Ghana's stability has to be taken very seriously".

Mr. Baffour says they have confidence in the country's security agencies to strategize and deal with the matter, so it does not get out of hand.

"We have to have a certain sense of responsibility in using social media. We've got to raise public awareness on the dangers to our national security and stability. This is a very stable country, so we have to take this seriously. I have had some chat although unofficially with some senior personnel of the security agencies, and I know they have it in hand. I know that since the Boko Haram threat in Nigeria, a lot has been done here in Ghana assiduously to contain any such occurrence in this country and this issue also falls within that's scope so we just have to increase our strategic interventions so we can at least reduce the incidence of such a thing occurring on a large scale in this country"