The National Security Ministry has cautioned the public to refrain from making prank calls to the ‘See Something, Say Something’ campaign call line.
Expressing its appreciation to Ghanaians and the media for supporting the citizens awareness campaign, it revealed that preliminary checks indicates that in the first 30 hours following the launch of the campaign, the emergency call center has received over 10,000 calls. The ministry noted that the “majority have been prank calls and calls to verify the operationality of the call lines”.
Contained in a statement dated May 26, 2022, the ministry explained that the development has culminated in long queues and delayed response to calls made to the center.
“While the Ministry assures the public of the activeness of the call centre and encourages same to report all suspicious persons and behaviours, we beseech all and sundry to desist from making prank calls to the centre as doing so undermines the ability of the law enforcement agencies to effectively respond to actual crises.”
National Security Ministry
Subsequently, the ministry assured the public of its “continued collaboration with all relevant agencies and stakeholders to safeguard the peace and security of our dear country, Ghana”. The campaign, the National Security Ministry emphasized, is in line with the “whole-of-society approach” that underpins the National Security Strategy which is aimed at encouraging citizens to report suspicious persons or activities to enable the state respond effectively to threats of terrorism and violent extremism.
‘See Something, Say Something’ Awareness Campaign
The ‘See Something, Say Something’ campaign was launched on Tuesday, May 24, 2022, and forms part of the operational strategy in collaborating efforts between security agencies and the citizens to safeguard the borders of the country.
This national security strategy is also expected to see a joint security action in response to security concerns from citizens in order to protect the territorial borders and find a formidable approach in tackling national security threats across the country.
Speaking at the launch of the campaign, Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, urged the media to provide a wider coverage of education to deepen understanding of threats on terrorism. He opined that whenever crisis hits, it is only the total mobilisation of the people that helps to make response robust.
Citing COVID, Mr Nkrumah highlighted that to be successful in responding as a country, it was prudent to mobilise the total “national understanding of the challenge ahead of us and a responsibility of each and every one of us in responding to it”. He noted that data suggests that awareness was “as high as beyond 80% of the kind of risk that we faced”, likewise the responses that each and every Ghanaian had to put up. This, he stated, helped in the country’s success in the battle against Covid.
As a consequence, the Information Minister appealed to the media to make time on their various platforms to help engage “the public, not in fear, but to deepen understanding so that all can play their part”.
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