Are our Security agencies ready for terrorist attacks?

Last Sunday’s prophecy by popular Nigerian man of God, Prophet Temitope Balogun (T.B.) Joshua that there will be “foreign attacks” on Ghana and Nigeria in the coming days has raised concerns about the preparedness of our security agencies to ward off any external attack on the country.

In fact before the prophecy, our security services, particularly the police and the military, have been on high alert, especially at a time when two of Ghana’s neighbouring countries—Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast—have suffered terrorist attacks.

What we do not know is whether the security agencies are adequately prepared and ready to deal with any form of terrorist attacks. We think this is what the country needs to rather focus its attention on and not just the prophecy, although we are not downplaying its importance. We, however, need to understand that terrorism now has become a global phenomenon and as such must be approached along this line.

Whiles considering the prophecy as a wake-up call to all of us, we must equally ensure that our security agencies are well and adequately resourced to deal with any domestic or foreign terrorist attack.

Indeed, security is something that we cannot toil with if we want to develop to become advanced countries like the United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK), Canada, France, etc. These countries, apart from their good economic policies, are what they are today because of the importance they attach to their security and welfare. The USA, for instance, does not take the security of its citizenry lightly at all. The same cannot be said of Ghana.

It is obvious that our governments do not take the security of Ghanaians seriously. We have had cases in the past where innocent Ghanaians have been left to die in foreign countries with our governments doing virtually nothing. A classical example is when some Ghanaians in Gambia were left to die.

It is against this backdrop that Today is urging central government to do more to protect lives of Ghanaians. Our situation becomes more precarious when in about eight-and-a-half months time Ghanaians will be going to the polls to elect leaders to govern this country.

We have seen some African countries take proactive measures to avert terrorist attack. For instance, we are told that in Kenya there is installation of Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras on high streets all the way to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, detecting any form of terrorist attack, something we think should not be economically cumbersome for us to do as a country.

In the face of all these, we want to see our national security measures reviewed and strengthened so as to avert any possible terror attack. Also, it is imperative for our security apparatus to do more by protecting our soft spots, including the airports, hospitals, hotels, shopping malls, stadia and electricity installations all as part of the security alert measures.

What is more, there should be awareness creation which we have not done much as a country. Although security measures are important, our security apparatus cannot ward off terrorists from hitting us, but if we are consciously prepared we will be in a better position to handle any terror group that will strike.