Over 3 million small arms in circulation - Security Expert

Security & safety expert, Adam Bona has urged the state to depoliticize security and safety to help minimize the illegal acquisition of firearms in communities.

According to him, there are over 3 million unregistered arms in circulation which is a threat national security.

“The weapons have been even been upgraded from the traditional non-police or state actor’s weapons to AK 47 and some highly sophisticated weapons”, he added

The United Nations (UN) and Small Arms Commission of Ghana in June 2017 disclosed that there were about 2.3 million unregistered arms in circulation in the country but the number has increased to 3 million.

Explaining why the situation is not getting better, Mr Bona said there are no procedures in place to check those owning firearms.

“It has become easy to own a firearm, all you need to do is to call somebody and you will have a gun,” said the security and safety expert.

According to him, other countries publish the names of gun operators for checks to be made before a person can acquire a weapon but in Ghana, gun operators work underground making it hard for security officials to trace their dealings.

He further stated that the lack of interest of state officials doesn’t help for security personnel to know and trace illegal firearm dealers.

Improper Police training

He also blamed political negligence and the improper training of police officers as a cause of the circulation.

“It is difficult for an official to detect when a person is armed without the right resources. There is the need for sniffer dogs and detectors which are mostly used in some countries to detect culprits in public places.

He urged the political state actors to invest more into safety and security as the current IGP is working on digitalizing the regime for owning a firearm.