President John Dramani Mahama has cautioned that violent extremism from neighboring Sahel countries poses an imminent threat to Ghana, warning it is “not a question of if, it is a question of when.”
Addressing the National Peace Council when they paid a courtesy call on him at the Presidency on Wednesday, the President said Ghana cannot claim immunity from what is happening in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, particularly given the proximity of the Bawku conflict area to jihadist activity.
“We haven’t had any direct confrontation from any of the violent extremists, but it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when. Because, I mean, we cannot say we are immune to what is happening there,” the President stated.
He noted that violent extremism and jihadist activity in the northern neighboring countries is occurring near Ghana’s border where the Bawku conflict has created vulnerabilities.
“The violent extremism and the jihadists and whatever is happening there is just on the border where we have the difficulty with the Boko affair. And so it makes us vulnerable when you have a conflict or crisis in an area that is so sensitive in terms of our security of our national territory,” he explained.
The President said this makes it important to resolve the Bawku issue as quickly as possible.
On the broader regional instability, President Mahama expressed concern about recent coup attempts, noting developments in Benin and Guinea-Bissau add to the “pension for coups” in the sub-region.
He said an upcoming ECOWAS meeting on December 14 will address these developments, describing them as major points of discussion.
The President warned that Ghana itself is not immune to coups if democratic governments fail to regain people’s trust.
“One of my major campaign messages was that we have a last opportunity to keep the faith and trust of our people in the political elites. Otherwise, Ghana is not immune to coups,” he stated.
He said young people’s cynicism about voting had grown in the run-up to last year’s campaign, with many questioning the value of democracy.
“You could see a certain cynicism where young people said, look, even this voting is useless. I go and vote every four years and I don’t see what difference it makes into our lives,” the President recalled.
President Mahama said his government is working to regain trust by being accountable and holding those who abused public trust to account.
He revealed government has begun retooling security services, having recently acquired armored vehicles for the police and planning similar acquisitions for the Air Force.
“We’re acquiring different ordinances for our services so that in the event that anything happens, we don’t only give them the mandate, but we give them the capacity to be able to fulfill the mandate,” the President explained.