Ghana is vulnerable to terrorism due to high unemployment, porous borders and poor surveillance among other factors, according to a study.
The study on the risk and threat analysis of violent extremism in ten border regions of Ghana in 2020 was conducted under the European Union sponsored project, “Preventing Electoral Violence and Providing Security to the Northern Border Regions of Ghana (NORPREVSEC)”.
Ms Josephine Nkrumah, Chairperson, National Commission for Civic Education, said terrorism and violent extremism was an ever-growing global menace, threatening peace, security and sustainable development.
Ms Nkrumah was speaking at the opening of the second national dialogue organized by the Commission in Accra
The second Dialogue will focus on awareness creation by identifying early warning signals of violent extremism, peace building mechanisms and measures to counter radicalisation of the youth.
The dialogue was on the theme: “peace and social cohesion in the context of violent extremism”.
She said “the findings of the study necessitated a first dialogue which focused on the risks and threats of violent extremism.”
Ms Nkrumah said Sub-Saharan Africa was not left-out with its weak institutions, porous borders, and ill-equipped security forces, demographic youth bulge coupled with inadequate economic opportunities thereby enabling extremist ideologies to grow and persist.
She said the sub-Saharan region had become a hotbed of terrorist violence, with attacks in Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, and it was only right that Ghana worried about the spillover effect due to her proximity to these places.
“Already we are seeing flare-ups of such activities in the Northern and border regions of Ghana as in the case of the Western Togoland Secessionist Movement which threatens not only national security but peace and social cohesion within the nation,” she added.
The NCCE Chairperson said the country could not and should not wait for such activities to spiral out of control before any steps are taken to control it.
She said the Commission was mandated by law to promote and sustain democracy in Ghana, and also to create and sustain within the society the awareness of the principles and objectives of the 1992 Constitution as the fundamental law of the people of the land.
Ms Nkrumah said the dialogue targeted the key issues like community surveillance, awareness creation at worship centres, identifying possible signs of radicalization, neighbourhood watch community patrol, peacebuilding mechanisms, peaceful coexistence/national cohesion and what to do during an attack.
“It is only when we actively work together against these forces of violence that we can triumph,” she said.
Mr Pieter Smidt Van Gelder, the Deputy Head of Mission, European Union, said violent extremism was one of the most significant global problems faced today and a common challenge for governments and civil society all over the world.
“This is gravely undermining international peace and security,” he said.
He said it was an increasing concern to the regional security agenda in West Africa and the Sahel, and a real and serious threat for Gulf of Guinea States, including Ghana which was seeking new partnerships in enhancing the effectiveness of their response to terrorism and violent extremism.
Mr Gelder said large-scale civic education, sensitization and awareness-raising campaigns on violence threats, organisation of various inter-party dialogue on peace, tolerance and armed violence were all essential to addressing issues of violent extremism.
He said there was the need for a holistic approach to tackling this issue, saying without a response that was more agile than traditional security measures and without a more comprehensive outlook, all efforts to support peace and prevent radicalization might fail.
“A well-educated and empowered society, immune to destructive narratives and capable of resolving its internal differences in amicable and peaceful manner, can move itself away from the dangers of radicalization and of rise of violence,” he added.
The Deputy Head of Mission said the dialogue would therefore help create awareness in order for all to identify early warning signals of extremist violence, and improve methods to promote respect for human rights and rule of law.
