Is A State Of Lawlessness And Disorder In Ghana Not One In Which Terrorists Will Thrive?

At a time when terrorist organisations are expanding their West African footprint, we must all be vigilant and law-abiding. And we must ensure that our security agencies are well-resourced - for they cannot possibly be vigilant if they are poorly-resourced.

If we cannot fund our security agencies sufficiently well enough, to make them effective for the fight against global terrorism, then we must encourage our allies to contribute their quota too, in that direction -  since the fight against global terrorism is one that unites all free societies as allies: because it threatens them equally.

Humankind must cut off each head of that hydra-headed monster, wherever in the world one appears.

Should we also not ensure that all Ghana's public-sector employees undergo orientation, which will lead to a clear understanding amongst them that terrorist organisations and narcotics drug syndicates, exploit corruption and unprofessional conduct in officialdom, in the nations they target - to enable them build the capacities of their local affiliates?

How can we be successful in preventing terrorist organisations and international drug cartels from gaining a firm foothold in Ghana, when, today,  some foreigners have been allowed to become so bold and arrogant - because  they are apparently well-connected - that they have now taken to mining gold illegally with excavators even in forest reserves? At a time of global climate change. Incredible.

What systemic failure made it possible for five Chinese nationals - who without a shadow of doubt, would have been arrested, prosecuted and sentenced to be executed by firing squad, had they done so in their home country - to engage in illegal gold mining in a forest reserve in Ghana, be apprehended by forest guards and handed over to the police, who then subsequently released them on bail, when, precisely because they were foreigners, the police should have handed them over to the Ghana Immigration Service: which would have detained them whiles their bona fides were checked?

How do we know that such lapses, in dealing with lawless foreigners and their local collaborators who show such impunity, will not encourage international  terrorist organisations and international drug cartels to decide to fund their local affiliates, by getting them to engage in unlawful activities such as illegal gold mining, illegal logging, illegal sand-winning, smuggling fuel and other goods across our borders, etc., etc.?

Should local authorities continue to turn a blind eye to foreigners establishing gold-buying and diamond-buying businesses in Ghana, and buying illegally mined gold and diamonds in the countryside areas where gold and diamonds are mined, and export same without paying a pesewa in taxes - when by law it is only the Precious Minerals Marketing Company that can buy gold and diamonds mined  by small-scale miners in Ghana?

Has the time not now come for the security agencies to apprehend all such foreign law-breakers who are purchasing gold and diamonds in the Ghanaian countryside, so that they are prosecuted, sentenced to prison terms and deported after serving their sentences?

One also wonders whether before expelling them from Asante Akyem, anyone in officialdom seized the opportunity to compile a database containing the bio-data (including photographs, fingerprints and DNA) of all the Fulani herdsmen at Agogo, so that identifying those amongst them who engage in crime will be a lot easier?

Incidentally, where exactly are the herds of cattle from Agogo and its periphery, going to eventually end up - and what plans are there to ensure that they are fenced-in, in the area they end up: so that the criminal elements amongst the Fulani herdsmen in charge of them do not terrorise local people there too?

Ending the egregious  criminality of Fulani herdsmen will be well-nigh impossible if the cattle they look after are not fenced in.

As a people, we need to unite to protect Ghanaian society from being easily harmed by international terrorist organisations and international drug cartels. If we are all law-abiding, it will make it easier for our nation to be protected from them, because they thrive in a state of lawlessness and disorder.

Our homeland Ghana must never be allowed to become another Somalia.  Those irresponsible, grandstanding and verbally-aggressive politicians  in our country, who forment trouble and incite violence across the nation,  must always remember that.

Henceforth, the authorities - particularly the justice  delivery system - must deal ruthlessly with all criminals, particularly those who engage in armed robbery, illegal gold mining, illegal sand-winning, illegal logging, as well as those operating as land guards - for their callousness and contempt for the law potentially makes them perfect footsoldiers for international terrorist organisations and drug cartels to recruit for their operations in Ghana and elsewhere.

A case in point is the illegal sand-winning now going on in parts of the Suhum-Craboa-Coaltar District.

Let the security agencies start off there, by monitoring the outrage going on at Thompsonakura, near Kyekyewre and Teacher Mante, which is just five minutes by car  off the Accra-Kumasi highway, before Asuboi.

There, they will see how illegal sand-winners trespass every night, to win sand, on farmland that is a private freehold property belonging to peaceful and law-abiding citizens, whose family have owned it since 1933, with total impunity.

How can such abominable and unspeakable things go on in a democracy in which the rule of law is said to prevail, I ask?.

Who are the powerful people allegedly sponsoring this brutal gang-rape of Mother Nature, at Thompsonakura, and the other villages in that area?

Perhaps if the security agencies monitor one of the villagers, Felix (0247968284), it might provide clues that will enable them apprehend some of those brazenly winning sand there illegally at night in Thompsonakura.

If left unchecked by the security agencies, such lawlessness and disorder in Ghana, will breed tomorrow's terrorists, as sure as day follows night. Those who are at the receiving end,  of such lawlessness and disorderly conduct, can see what is over the horizon clearly - and it is incredibly frightening.