The Minister for National Security, Albert Kan Dapaah, has said the fight against terrorism should be seen as a collective duty devoid of partisan politics.
Speaking at the launch of a campaign dubbed ‘See Something, Say Something’ to encourage citizens to report suspicious characters in the community, he said the latest effort was a critical preventative measure to empower Ghanaians to be more conscious of their security and secondly to enhance the relationship with state agencies.
He was optimistic that all Ghanaians would embrace the campaign to ensure that the country was free from terrorist attacks.
Before the event, the Ministry of National Security had cautioned worship centres several days earlier to beef up security over threats upon the advice of security analysts.
The caution came barely 72-hours after terrorists attacked neighbouring Togo.
On his part, the Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said efforts would be made to clamp down on people who circulate misinformation to create unnecessary fear and panic.
“There are laws in this country that deal with the publication of false news with the intent of causing fear and panic, those laws are still in our statute books, and especially at this time when we are trying to get credible information laws out, we will not hesitate to use those laws,” he noted.
Measures
Mr. Kan-Dapaah said the state security and intelligence agencies remained on high alert to contain any eventuality.
He emphasized that safeguarding the country’s security and stability remained a key priority for all state security and intelligence agencies.
“To that end, we will remain vigilant and will continue to work in strengthening our capacity to effectively mitigate all forms of these attacks,” he assured.
Recent attacks
The national security minister said in recent times, apart from Burkina Faso, there had been attacks in Cote d’Ivoire, about seven attacks in Benin, and recently, one terrorist attack in Togo.
“So far, there has not been any attack in Ghana. It does not mean that the terrorists are not planning to attack. We believe they may be planning, and the best way to handle it is to ensure that we also do all that is necessary to contain the situation.
“But there has not been any attack in our country so far,” he said.
Retooling
The national security minister indicated that the support the government had from the Interior and Defence Committee of Parliament paved the way for the retooling of the security and intelligence agencies.
That, he said, was not to suggest that the security and intelligence agencies did not have sufficient equipment and tools at the time.
He added that in recent times there had been a deliberate effort to retool and add to the equipment that the country needed to ward off any security threat.