From left: Mr. Baffour, Christine Evans-Klock, Henry Quartey and Jones Apleah at the ceremony
The United Nations (UN) has made a passionate appeal to the government of Ghana to effectively tackle the proliferation of small arms and light weapons to avert violent conflict in the country.
UN Resident Coordinator for Ghana, Christine Evans-Klock made the call yesterday in Accra while delivering a speech at the closing ceremony of the Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence under the theme, ‘The Road To Development and Peace Begins With Silencing the Guns.”
According to her, the increasing rate of conflicts in some parts of Ghana and the heightened sense of insecurity in some West African countries have dire consequences on people and prospects for development.
She indicated that a survey conducted by the Small Arms Commission of Ghana, with support from the UN Development Program, in 2015, estimated that there were some 2.3 million unregistered arms in circulation in Ghana.
“…This represented an increase of about 850% from the 2004 baseline study that put the number of illicit arms in Ghana at some 240,000,” she said.
Mr. Evans-Klock, who made reference to records from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of Ghana Police Service, indicated that “these illicit arms are the main weapons used in conflicts over chieftaincy and land rights.”
“And there is new concern about their use in the politically-related vigilantism that we have seen in Ghana since the December elections,” she declared.
Tackling the menace, she said, would require a number of interventions from the state, including addressing the issue of poverty and youth unemployment, which are mainly responsible for gun violence.
“Youth unemployment is one of the root causes of insecurity across the countries in West Africa. Unmet expectations of young people for good jobs, for opportunities to start a business or to continue their education, lead to frustration and can make young people vulnerable to those who would exploit them for political purposes,” according to her.
In her view, “Young people need opportunities for decent work and opportunities to participate in the electoral processes to help determine the future of their countries through peaceful and effective means.”
Deputy Minister for Interior, Henry Quartey, in response to the call, said government would equip the various national security agencies to tackle the proliferation of small arms in the country.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), Baffour Dokyi Amoa, said globally there are approximately one billion small arms in circulation and eight million more produced annually by thousands of manufacturers.
The Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence is a campaign by IANSA in 2003 to address gun violence.
IANSA is a global movement for the prevention of armed violence and the official coordinator of civil society for the UN small arms process.
Executive Secretary of IANSA, Jones Apleah, said globally about 48% of people die annually as a result of small arms violence ranging from 247,000 to 490,000 people.
In West Africa, Ghana is number one when it comes to the prevalence of small arms, he said.
By Melvin Tarlue & Edward Emmanuel Lamptey