North East region of Ghana is experiencing a surge in the number of people entering it from Togo. Consequent to an attack by 10 unknown assailants on Motorbikes, residents of Togolese border towns of Tambeng, Tantra 2, and Janbgbande fled into Ghana.
Numbering about 200 hundred people, they fled to Ghana to escape the assailants. Meanwhile, the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) has visited Yunyoo, Bunkprugu, Wanchiki, and other communities housing the displaced to take a census and ascertain the scale of the problem firsthand.
The visit is intended to give the relief agency a full grasp of the situation to facilitate an adequate response to the challenge. Due to Islamist insurgency in Burkina Faso, Ghana is already housing hundreds if not thousands of people spread across many small towns and rural settlements along her Northern frontiers.
The influx of more refugees from Togo only adds to the country’s woes. The Ghanaian host communities themselves are relatively poor and marginalized, likewise their economic situation. The Ghanaian government’s resources and ability to offer sustainable long-term support to the displaced are strained and overstretched.
However, like her counterparts across the continent, and other parts of the developing world, Ghana maintains an open-door policy towards refugees and people in distress.
Growing Concerns
Amid rising insecurity and the increasing spate of coups within West Africa, there is a growing unease among the Ghanaian public concerning the influx of displaced people into the country and its potential adverse impact on their well-being and safety.
Experts have advised the government to implement robust monitoring and intelligence-gathering mechanisms to prevent any potential spillover of violent extremism into the country. They call on the government to collaborate and share intelligence with its neighbours to prevent cross-border crimes and to safeguard the relative safety Ghana still enjoys.
The ease with which the refugees entered Ghana indicates the difficulty of policing Ghana’s porous borders. The situation is the same across the subregion and in most parts of the continent. As the election draws near, Ghanaians are generally concerned about the sanctity and credibility of the polls.
The previous election saw issues of citizenship and migration take center stage. The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) accused the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) of deliberately disenfranchising Ghanaians by alleging that foreigners have found their way into the voter register and used the “pretext” to necessitate a new register that favoured it at the polls.
NDC further accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of colluding with the NPP to strip Ghanaians of their citizenship, by expunging Birth Certificates from the approved list of tenable documents for acquiring voter identification cards.
Even the deployment of some military personnel to selected border towns for “security” purposes was questioned by the opposition. It is worth adding that, the suspicion and distrust between the two parties has not diminished.
Securing the realm
Irrespective of their differences and distrust, both the NDC and the governing NPP understand the importance of keeping the country and its people safe. It appears that security is one area none of them want to be seen to be toiling with.
Ghana’s relative security and political stability are the envy of many countries on the continent. Despite sharing the same multi-ethnic and multi-confessional as well as bitter colonial origin with them, Ghana has successfully wedged together its disparate group of people into a peace-loving stable democratic society.
One major question on the minds of many is that of capacity and balancing. Confronting its economic challenges, many are doubtful that the government has the strength to provide the refugees with their needs without neglecting the demands of its people.
A Difficult Choice
With a dwindling resource and enormous demand during an election year, can the government find a balance between local demands and international obligations?
The Islamist insurgency in the Sahel has gained attention and is attracting global attention. Military aid and assistance have been granted to the affected states. On the contrary, the same cannot be said for humanitarian support to refugees and their host countries.
The scale of humanitarian support extended to the host country is pale in comparison to what affected countries get in the form of military assistance.
Some analysts have questioned the wisdom of this approach and are canvassing for more support from host countries as a very crucial step towards stemming the tide of radicalization amongst refugees and displaced people.
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