Mr Mark Woyongo, Minister for Interior on Tuesday called for concerted efforts by all agencies and Ghanaians to curb the proliferation of small arms in the country.
He said the “porous nature of the borders “has resulted in the state of affairs and appealed to security agencies to work hard to ensure the security of Ghanaians.
Mr Woyongo said this when he paid a visit to the Commission on Small Arms in Accra said there was the need for everybody to be a security agent.
He commended the Commission saying despite their challenges they had performed creditably and expressed the hope that in the next few weeks the Ministry would work on the problems since the economy was showing signs of improvement.
He expressed the hope that Ghana would be able to manufacture its own small arms so that the country would end the importation of small arms.
The Minister said the Ministry was aware of laws on small arms were being reviewed to effectively respond to small arms control and called for effective intelligence network to apprehend people who bring in illegal weapons, adding “we can do a lot with other security agencies to monitor the circulation of arms in the country.”
He said the Ministry would collaborate with the Commission to get resources to provide a computerized automated record keeping on small.
Mr Woyongo said government was constrained because of other equally demanding problems and urged the Commission to find alternative ways to complement government efforts.
Lt Col Seth Ohene-Asare, Chairman of the Board, Ghana seemed to stand tall in the sub-region and its image would continue to be enhanced with the necessary support.
On the issue of a possibility of Ghana manufacturing its own small arms, Lt Col Ohene-Asare said “let’s put the necessary standards in place, let’s collaborate with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, adding “we are already in collaboration with Suame magazine in Kumasi.”
Mr Jones Applerh, Executive Secretary, said the Commission was still grappling with many teething problems such as data keeping since it was an infant institution.
He said most of the things were dictated by the ECOWAS convention on small arms.
