President Akufo-Addo’s call for vigilance on the part of border residents is something we have chorused in the past few months since Burkina Faso and other West African countries became restive.
He did not miss the bull’s eye when he told residents of Bawku and others along the Ghana and Burkina Faso frontiers to open their eyes and call the attention of security agents when they spot suspicious elements roaming their areas or even sneaking into Ghana from elsewhere.
Although identifying foreign bad elements is not an easy undertaking, there are a few characteristics such persons exude which border residents can isolate.
With our borders officially shut, the task is somewhat mitigated.
Hospitability, at such times, is not welcome because it can be costly. We should be mindful about persons we let into houses in border communities and even outside such places.
Bad elements, since they harbour negative intentions, will adopt cunning strategies to outwit their hosts. It is important therefore that we, especially our border compatriots, are wary about such tricks.
The police alert about the infiltration into the country of the bad elements should have all Ghanaians on their marks and ready to tackle such bandits.
As we noted in a previous commentary, our border compatriots especially, those along the Burkina Faso frontier, should be educated about the state of insecurity in the neigbouring country and the need to be vigilant as the President has rightly said.
It would be an incomplete business when the task of tackling possible infiltration into the country by bandits is left to the security agents alone.
Such elements will definitely be one of the many porous points along the border to infiltrate and that is when the local farmer, minding his own business, comes in handy. It is only when such farmers and others understand the subject, that they would start getting productively curious and raise the alarm when necessary.
The Ghana Immigration Service and the Ghana Police Service in the border areas should lead the education campaign of the local population about the plans by bandits to infiltrate Ghana and the implications of such breaches. This would ensure that the bad elements are stopped in their tracks.
In his remarks at the end of the 59th Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the President brought the subject of insecurity to the front burner and called for joint action.
It is such acknowledgement of insecurity in the West African sub-region which makes it even more imperative on all citizens to be vigilant.
Gun-running and ease of movement of citizens of ECOWAS provides impetuses for bandits under the circumstances. Vigilance should be the watchword for all of us, border residents, et al.