Election 2020: Ghana Is Prepared To Avert Potential Threats Of Violence – National Security Minister
The Minister of National Security, Albert Kan Dapaah, says the security architecture of the country has undergone significant reforms in view of the December 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
Addressing Parliament on the nation’s preparations towards ensuring violent-free polls, the Minister stated on Thursday that all security agencies in the country are prepared to counter any forms of violence that may arise.
According to him, the new national security strategy, which will be published after a review by Parliament’s Committee for Defence and Interior has been designed as an effective tool to be used by the nation’s security forces to avert possible threats.
“It will be the first documented National Security [Strategy] since Ghana attained independence. The strategy identifies current and future security threats and outlines measures to address the effects in order to safeguard the peace and stability of the country using a whole of government and society approach,” he noted.
Mr. Dapaah indicated that the document, which had received input from both sides of the House as well as from several other reputable sources is characterised by proactive measures that adequately handle any threat of violence.
“The preparation of this document saw members of both sides of the House and members in civil societies, academia and also in non-state institutions coming together to develop a document which we believe is acceptable to any document that comes into being in Ghana.
“The proactive rather than the reactive nature of these measures means that the security agencies are prepared to confront the threat of terrorism and indeed any form of emerging security threat in the foreseeable future to make Ghana a safe country,” he said.
The National Security Minister implored the general public to assist the Police and other security forces by volunteering information about possible threats to the security of the country.
He equally advised that Ghanaians refrain from hate speech and utterances that have the tendency to destabilise to the country’s peace and stability.