It is no secret that Ghana is a free country where foreigners live free without restriction sometimes borne out of the Ghanaian accolade of a welcoming and friendly nation.
Most immigrants from the West African states find it easy to enter the country citing justification from the ECOWAS protocols. There are those without proper documentation and others with no documents at all. Immigrants have also found various ways of entering the country since the borders of the country are porous and poorly managed. The Hausas, Fulanis, Tuaregs and a host of others are entering Ghana in droves. This state had rendered Ghana into a “geographical prostitute”. That is to say it flirts virtually with every immigrant who enters from the various entry points both legally and illegally.
Over the years the country had been a place of refuge to most refugees from Africa’s troubled countries. The likes of Liberia, Cote d’ivoire, Sudan, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia and small numbers from Iraq, Lebanon and Syria.
The ECOWAS 90 days stay communique in member countries by immigrants from member countries had flaunted with irregularities and no monitoring and mismanagement. This had created security threats to most stable countries in the sub-regional group.
In the face of Boko haram violence no member country is safe and Ghana is no exception. A security expert on Wednesday said the terror campaign of Boko Haram in Nigeria poses a major security threat to West Africa and called on ECOWAS to intervene to deal with the insurgency.
“The potential threat of Boko Haram is not only to Nigeria but to the whole of the West African sub-region,” he said.
“Sadly ECOWAS is a joke. Its response to political crisis in West Africa is awful, our sub-regional leaders are quick to sign conventions and pass resolution but inept in implementation,” Dr Emmanuel Kwesi Aning, Director of Research at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra.
He said the ECOWAS protocol relating to the mechanism for conflict prevention, management, resolution, peace-keeping and security’s objectives was among other things to prevent, manage and resolve internal and inter-state conflicts.
Daily violence in Nigeria by Boko Haram had led to the huge movement of people to safer neighbouring countries with Ghana receiving high numbers of these refugees who mostly enter through unapproved routes.
Lately the Tuaregs have made Ghana their destinations as they move south from the Sahelian countries. They could be found on the streets of Accra, Kumasi and other big cities in Ghana begging for alms. With no job or other means of survival, these people are obviously threat to the country’s economic, social stability and security.
The avenue of being used by insurgent group like Boko Haram is highly likely since they have nothing to lose.
Ghana indeed is on security threat.
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