The Ministry of National Security has engaged a wide range of stakeholders in the northern region as part of its nationwide consultative process on citizens’ responsibility to crime combating and activities of extremist groups in the country.
National Security officials embarked on a weeklong tour of the region to interact with the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and staff of the assemblies, traditional leaders, identifiable groups, school children and teachers.
They also addressed Muslim congregations on Friday, in Tamale to educate the populace about the ‘See something, Say something’ campaign and the role the citizenry must perform in providing timely information to state authorities on suspicious activities in their communities through the toll free number 999.
The team also received feedback from the stakeholders and the general public particularly issues and suggestions that would propel the state security to maintain law and order in the country.
Madam Akosua Danquah Ntim, Coordinator of the ‘See Something, Say Something’ campaign in a media interaction said the Ministry launched the project two years ago following the growing insecurity and activities of extremists groups in the sub region.
“As we speak, Ghana is the only country that hasn’t suffered any attack yet but that does not mean we are immune to any attack and it has become necessary that we go out there and get citizens on board to complement efforts of the government in safeguarding national security,” she asserted.
Madam Akosua explained that the government has done a lot to maintain stability in the country.
This, according to her, is the reason Ghana has not experience any form of attack yet.
She indicated that the activities of terrorist elements are evolving therefore the need for the government to up its game by involving citizens to appreciate the situation and volunteer timely and adequate information for prompt response from the appropriate authorities.
Role of chiefs
According to the National Security, traditional leaders have a significant role to play at the community level to galvanize support of their subjects to be vigilant and share information on anything that could compromise national security.
The Coordinator intimated the campaign is a proactive measure government has taken to ensure that the prevailing stability is not compromised.
“The least we want to do is to sit aloof and allow ourselves to be taken by events and go firefighting, that might not auger well for us as a nation; so it’s become very necessary to do this now and let citizens appreciate the efforts of government and come on board and contribute their quota in whatever possible ways” she emphasized.
Public response
Madam Akosua said the public response towards the campaign and feedback from the relevant stakeholders have so been massive, stating there is always an increased in the number of calls that come through the call centre after every community entry.
However, she lamented that most of the calls that they receive are prank calls thereby admonishing the general public to desist from such practice.
The Mayor of Tamale, Sule Salifu, in his remarks when the team paid a courtesy call on him commended the National Security Ministry for the initiative.
He stated the public education will go a long to put the populace on the alert on the security threats.
Mr. Sule however bemoaned that many landlords in the metropolis are mostly interested in the monies they make through their rent without proper background scrutiny of their tenants. In view of this, he further implored house owners to always conduct security checks on people before accepting to accommodate them.
Meanwhile, the team has so far taken the campaign to the Western, Western North, Central, Greater Accra, Eastern, Ashanti, Volta, Upper East, Upper West, North East and the Northern regions.
The idea is to conduct the exercise across all 16 administrative regions of the country to raise awareness and alert citizens to be security conscious.
