Member of Parliament (MP) for the Wa West Constituency and a retired Superintendent of Police, Peter Lanchene Toobu, has advised that to prevent terrorist attacks on Ghana, the foundation of internal security must be strengthened.
He made this comment in relation to the government’s request for parliamentary approval to purchase 6 aircraft for the Ghana Armed Forces.
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Peter is of the view that strengthening internal security against terrorism must start from the communities.
He reasons that, if any terrorist invades the country to embark on recruitment and training, such a person will not do so wielding arms. Rather, the terrorist will make his way into the community to train unsuspecting persons.
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In an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, he further explained: “We need to realize that it is not only by military force that we win against terrorist groups. We need to start thinking about winning hearts and minds to win wars. We must focus on police, immigration and community security.”
Proposing how Ghana’s internal security can be strengthened against terrorism, he said: “Conscientizing our communities to be alert on what is happening around is very important. The traditional leaders and opinion leaders must be engaged. When it happens that way, every community is sensitized and when it happens that there is danger, everyone is alert and that will prevent youth radicalization and recruitment.
But if were waiting to fly helicopters in the air and fire machine guns then we will have left the foundation to rot. Let’s make sure the foundation to prevent it from even happening.”
The Minister for Defence has laid a 111-million-euro performance sales and purchase agreement for the supply of six L-39 next-generation aircraft for the Ghana Armed Forces.
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The agreement was laid in the House by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu on behalf of his colleague, Dominic Nitiwul.
AERO Vodochody AEROSPACE a.s of the Czech Republic is the named supplier in the agreement.
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The agreement has been referred to the Defence and Interior Committee for consideration.
According to the Ministry of Defence’s Medium Term Expenditure Framework for 2020-2023, the ministry as of June 30, 2019, had “overhauled three (3) Casa Aircraft for the Ghana Air Force and Two (2) helicopters which were grounded since 2012.”
