President of the Institute for Security, Disaster and Emergency Studies, Dr Ishmael Norman, has called on government to resource the the state security with modern equipment.
Speaking about the threats of terrorist attacks in the country, he admonished government to also scale up its efforts in resourcing all the state security agencies with advanced technology to enable them stay ahead of the criminals at all times.
Touching on the security agencies capability of dealing with these terrorists, Dr. Norman intimated that the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), the Police and other security agencies are potent enough to deal with any terrorist group that tries to evade the country.
“Our Army is very strong, our Police is very strong even though sometimes we doubt them, they are very strong. Our Navy, our other military agencies and we the people, we are also very strong. If we see something happening, I know there will be patriotic Ghanaians that will jump onto the terrorist and deal with them. Let us not be frightened, government needs to prepare, provide equipment and provide technology.”
Dr Ishmael Norman
Speaking about the terrorist’s attacks in some West African countries, Dr Norman, however, stated that although the security forces are strong, he does not don’t see any real preparedness of the population and that of the Military forces and security forces. He stated that the nation should be concerned about that but should also learn to “put things in context”.
“I have said before that 9/11 was catastrophic event but the quantum of the people that actually died compared to the population of the United States was [not much] although a lot of people suffered post traumatic events.
“I don’t wish [for] Ghana to be attacked by terrorist groups but we have to put it in context that even if it happens, the effect will be very negligible. So, let us put things in the context and stop frightening ourselves that the terrorists are going to take over.”
Dr Ishmael Norman
Don’t create fear and panic
Also contributing to the discussion, the Executive Director for the West Africa Centre for Counter Extremism (WACCE), Mutaru Mumuni Muqthar, cautioned authorities not to create fear and panic in the country with threats of terrorist attacks.
According to Muqthar, although there is the need for extra vigilance to forestall any possible attack, there is also the need to have a conversation around not creating panic within the system.
The Security Expert explained that there are many countries that are dealing with terrorist attacks however, they do not allow that to interfere with normal daily life and Ghana must emulate same.
“More importantly, I think the conversation we should also be having is how not to create panic in the system. There are many countries that they are dealing with terrorism and yet it does not get in the way of their normal daily life as people and so, it is important that that part of the conversation is featured in our conversation.”
Mutaru Mumuni Muqthar
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