Edem Elliot Agbenorwu
The Ketu South District Chief Executive, Elliot Dem Agbenorwu has said that the porous Ghana Togo boarder is giving him sleepless nights especially in the wake of terrorism concerns.
According to him, as the Chairman of the Municipal Security Council (MUSEC), he spends most of his time working with the key security agencies to ensure the frontiers are safe.
“You know, the border situation gives me sleepless nights, not because I am afraid, but because the workload and systems to ensure safety and security for all is depriving me of sleep.”
Ghana-Togo Boundary
The Ketu South is host to Aflao where Ghana’s main Eastern Border with the Republic of Togo is located. Although the boundary between the two countries stretches from the Ocean to the Northern Eastern part of Ghana, Aflao Border and the Akanu Joint Border post are the main entry points with a number of minor border posts along the boundary.
Already, the Volta Regional Commander of the Ghana Immigration Peter Claver Nantuo Esq is on record to have said the number of unapproved routes between the two countries were unaccountable and were so porous that manning the lines were very challenging.
Recently, there was an arrest of the Headmaster and Proprietor of the Kekeli Preparatory International School who was illegally registering foreigners to sit for the just-ended Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
The two, whose school is located at, 2nd Low Cost; a suburb of Aflao are alleged to have smuggled the pupils numbering about 62 into the country as they had no documentation to prove they went through immigration.
Reiterating the concerns, the Ketu South MCE lamented that “if they could smuggle 62 children into the country with no documentation then it means, there is a lot more to do.”
He announced that the National Security is working with his office to ensure the Ghana side of the frontier was cleared for easy security monitoring, saying “So far, 30 meters of the buffer zone from the German Pillars from the Ghana side has been marked for clearing and future development into the road that will be motorable just like the Togolese side has always been.”
This he said, will go a long way to also curb the recent threat of terrorism on the country. He also indicated that the Ghana Police Service was working round the clock to put men at high security risk areas, including Kologa an enclave considered as “no man’s land”.
The Immigration, Customs and Police in Ketu South also believe that should the 3km road from Aflao towards the Court and a little beyond Diamond Cement Factory area be constructed, it would significantly improve security operations along the boundary.
From Fred Duodu, Aflao (k.duodu@yahoo.com)