National Security Brief – May 2011

This security brief forms part of the regular quarterly security briefs that WANEP-Ghana issues, as a direct consequence of its Conflict and Human Security National Early Warning System, GhanaWarn. This quarter’s brief highlights three main issues that pose security threats to the national populations. The issues have been identified because of the higher frequencies of occurrence as per our database, geographic spread of the occurrences as well as the potential of recording higher frequencies in the future. WANEP-Ghana is concerned that cumulatively, the incidences resulted in precious loss of lives, maimed people and has created fear in communities and travelers, displaced populations and created economic instabilities for individuals, families and the government. The cases of armed attacks and proliferation of small arms, most of which involved foreign nationals, also raise border security concerns for the country.

Statistically, within the period, GhanaWarn recorded 3 accident cases, two of which involved two state ministers, 8 armed related attacks, 4 of which were armed robberies, 2 chieftaincy related violence, 1 mining, and 1 case involving the possession of large quantities of small arms. It also recorded 3 civil disorders, 2 of which were political and the other social, 4 natural disaster cases, 3 of which were rainstorms and 1 epidemic disease as well as 3 threats of disturbances; 1 labour, 1 chieftaincy and 1 land case.

This therefore makes us highlight armed related attacks and use of small arms, Natural disasters and Road accidents as the issues that pose the highest threat to human security in the country, if no interventions or adequate preparations are made.

Armed attacks and proliferation of small arms

Between March and April 3rd 2011, 55 Ivorian combatants were arrested in the Brong-Ahafo region whiles another person was arrested with 48 rounds of ammunition at Sefwi-Wiawso in the Western Region. Several arms and ammunitions were found on the first group.

The Accra Regional Police Command also arrested six out of twelve foreigners including an ex-Nigerian soldier and a policeman on two separate occasions, 20th and 24th April 2011 at Budumburam Camp and Kaneshie for armed robbery. The suspects were alleged to be behind various robberies at filling stations within Accra, Tema and Kasoa areas. Items retrieved from them included a fully-loaded pump action gun, a foreign pistol with five rounds of ammunition, two locally-made pistols, twenty cartridges, three garden gun cartridges among other items.

In another incident thirteen West African nationals, including a Ghanaian, were arrested on 5th May, 2011 by the police at Nkawkaw for their involvement in an alleged armed robbery on the Accra-Kumasi highway. The foreign nationals included Beninois, Nigeriens and a Burkinabe. The suspects possessed various types of arms and ammunitions, drugs and majority of them were suspected to be of Fulani origin. While in a bizarre case on 6th April 2011, the people of Jadema in the West Mamprusi district of the Northern region arrested 1 of three Fulani men who had broken the arms of a married woman of four children and in her thirties and gang raped her.

Natural Disasters

In a report submitted by Officials of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), more than 4,000 people were displaced following consistent rainstorms in the Upper East Region. The rainstorms affected about 14 districts out of the 21 districts in the region. Several public and private infrastructural properties in Builsa, Bongo, Bawku West and Bawku East districts as well as Chuchuliga, Gbedema, Fumbisi, Weiga, Kandema and Sandema communities were destroyed. Most of the properties destroyed were newly-constructed projects. The rainstorms destroyed electricity poles, culverts, bridges and the roof of a district hospital was ripped off.

Similar incidents occurred at Afram Plains, in the Kwahu North district where about four schools had their roofs ripped off and about a hundred and fifty-two people were displaced. Generally, about 4,254 people were displaced in over 107 communities while more than 100 homes were destroyed by the storm. The latest incident in the area was on Wednesday March 16, 2011. In a related development, over 2,000 residents of the Karaga District in the Northern Region were rendered homeless by a rainstorm that hit the area on Monday March 14. Some of the rainstorms were recorded at the Zongo communities of Kransieso in Nkoranza following a severe rainstorm that ripped off the roofs of about 42 buildings. Three persons were injured during the incident.

Accidents

The Deputy Minister of Education Mahama Ayariga was involved in an accident in the morning of Sunday, 27th March, 2011. The Minister, who was part of President Mills’ team touring the Upper East Region, was returning to Tamale onboard a flight to Accra when his vehicle ran into another vehicle which was said to have been parked in the middle of the road at Walewale. In a similar incident, the Majority Leader in Parliament, Cletus Avoka, nearly lost his life when his vehicle burst its tyre on the Navrongo-Zabila road on Saturday, 26th March 2011.

In the face of these threats, WANEP-Ghana wishes to, as a matter of urgency,

• Encourage the Police to continue with its efforts of implementing the National Community Policing System to help curb highway and community crimes. Emergency telephone numbers of the police should be publicized widely and continuously on television stations, FM stations, public transport stations and on public buses, etc so as to make them easily accessible and memorable.

• Appeal to the Police Commands to conduct periodic community swoops to fish out criminal elements and retrieve arms and ammunitions from noted communities.

• Encourage mobile telephone network companies such as Vodafone Ghana, MTN, Airtel, etc, to identify and provide network services to communities particularly those located along highways were armed robberies are perpetrated because of the absence of telephone communication networks.

• Urge the Ghana Immigration and the Customs Excise Units; especially those at the border posts to be more vigilant ensuring immigration procedures are followed. They could also conduct border patrols as a way of warding off criminals and reduce the influx of small arms into the country.

• Renew our call to Government, International Institutions and Civil Society groups to help increase the manpower and logistical capacity of the security services, to enable them respond to violence, nationally.

• Appeal to the National Disaster Management Organisation, District Assemblies, and other allied departments to map out disaster prone settlement communities and implement strategies that would help prevent avoidable flooding in those communities and lastly,

• Urge the National Road Safety Commission and the various motor transport unions in Ghana to intensify their efforts at road safety education and discipline amongst drivers and the public in order to reduce the increasing cases of road accidents across the country.

Through the Department for International Development (DFID), Christian Aid, the WANEP-Ghana hosted Early Warning Centre (EWC) tracks conflict/human security incidents and situations across the country through various structures and tools.

By this, we encourage the general public to report incidents of human security concern through the following options:-

By Phone Call - (Toll free: 080010029 or Hotline: 0201131885). By SMS (to Short Code 1443). How to send SMS:- type GNP(leave space) followed with the message and then send to 1443.