Ministry to monitor local gun manufacturers, importers

Alhaji Malik Alhassan Yakubu, Minister of the Interior, on Friday said the ministry would soon put in place a mechanism to effectively monitor the operations of licensed local gun manufacturers and importers.

This, he said, is to ensure that they manufacture and import only the category of firearms they have licence for, with the view to curbing the proliferation of assault firearms in private hands.

"We will take a critical look at the whole process of licensing gun manufacturers and importers as well as the purchase, registration, possession and use of guns in the country," Alhaji Yakubu told the Ghana News Agency (GNA).

He said the move forms part of government's response to the proliferation of assault riffles and the upsurge in armed robbery activities.

"It is also in conjunction with an ECOWAS initiative under which a three-year moratorium has since 1998 been given for the retrieval of all sophisticated arms and effective checks on their illegal manufacture and importation in the sub-region," he said.

Alhaji Yakubu said he was aware of the existence of a number of licensed gun manufacturers in the country but they are to manufacture only short guns, a certain category of pistols for special purposes and hunting guns.

"No private person has been licensed to manufacture, import or possess such sophisticated weapons as AK 47s, SMGs and other assault riffles," he said.

"Hunters, farmers, border guards and people in certain special offices have the legal right to possess specific category of guns which are less harmful."

Alhaji Yakubu said information available to the ministry points fingers at illegal local gun manufacturers, returnees from Cuba and UN peacekeeping missions, diplomats and some recalcitrant security personnel as being responsible for proliferation of assault riffles.

"We are taking steps to carefully identify all the illegal sources of guns, seal them and also to regulate the activities of the licensed manufacturers and importers," he said.

"Plans are underway to meet with the umbrella organisations of the local manufacturers." Alhaji Yakubu said under the law, one needs a permit from the ministry to manufacture or import guns, adding that the permit is valid for a year, but renewable.

"After importing a gun for private use for instance, you need a licence to possess it, after its particulars have been taken down," he said.

"The onus, however, is on you to prove why you need a gun (and this) is subject to investigation by the security agencies."

Touching on the two-week ultimatum to retrieve illegally possessed arms, the minister said those who will submit their weapons within the postulated period would not be prosecuted and penalised as the law prescribes.

He said the order applies to both Ghanaians and foreigners, adding that those who will respond would be given some form of reward as a way of waiving the cost at which they transported the weapons.

Alhaji Yakubu said the police and the armed forces have been detailed to design modalities for retrieving such arms, but the doors of the ministry of the interior are also open for the submission of illegal arms.

"After the two-week grace period, we would mount a serious search and anyone caught possessing arms illegally would face the full rigours of the law," he warned.

Asked how many illegal arms have been retrieved since the ultimatum was given, he said it was too early to tell. He said after a week, the ministry will take stock to ascertain the impact of the order.

He assured those who possess weapons illegally that "no one who deliberately submits weapons in his possession will be followed thereafter.

"This government has a serious contract of trust and faith with the people of this country.

We will not do anything to create the impression that we are in to go back on statements we make publicly and to make life uncomfortable for citizens," he said.