Security Forces Manning Borders With Torchlights As Al Qaeda Militants Prowl

…Owula Mangortey 

Ghana’s border patrol personnel are under the constraint to use torchlights to feel their way around borders at a time that Togo has engaged and succeeded in expelling suspected Al Qaeda militants from its border with neighboring Burkina Faso, alleges social commentator, Owula Mangortey.

Mangotey claims he has traveled extensively around the border town and reviewed Ghana’s security architecture as woefully inadequate. “How do we expect Immigration Officials to use torch lights to patrol the borders? They need technological equipment. How do we expect Immigration officials to work without common raincoats?”

Ghana’s Security Forces, he wrote, have increased alert levels following Togo Security Forces thwarting of possible militant attacks in the Kpendjal Prefecture near the border with Burkina Faso on Friday, 12th November 2021.

The attacks were believed to be a spillover of Islamist militant violence into Togo, believed to be the first since 2018 when the Togolese began operations to prevent insurgents linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic State from entering from Burkina Faso.

Responding to the attacks, President Faure Gnassingbe is reported to have instructed his government to continue investing in the security agencies to strengthen their capabilities.

Owula Mangortey notes that the government of Ghana has also been responding to the imminent terrorist threat.

In response to the attacks in Togo, the Ghana Security Agencies have increased their alert levels. The Military, in particular, has intensified public education engagements in border communities and will require civil sector agencies to complement their efforts,” Mangotey notes, but quickly adding that the preparation was inadequate.

 “I have noted the lax security at hotels/motels, places of worship, funerals, restaurants/chop bars/drinking spots, educational institutions, chief’s palaces, markets, lorry parks, offices of the Municipal and District Assemblies, family homes of prominent politicians and public figures, etc.,” he wrote.

“Fellow Ghanaians, there is a lot more that the Government of Ghana has to do to increase the capabilities of the Security Agencies if we do not wish to be overrun by militants linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic State.”