Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko
Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, a private legal practitioner and a member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has subtly exposed the ‘hypocrisy’ of the United Kingdom (UK) on terrorism.
It would be recalled that the UK recently warned British citizens of likely terror attacks in Ghana.
The warning came as the UK updated its travel advice.
According to the update sighted by DGN Online, “terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks in Ghana. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners.”
The advice came in the wake of the arrests of two suspected Burkinabe terrorists.
The two were nabbed in the Hamile township of the Upper West Region in separate operations.
They were both allegedly in possession of guns at the time of their arrests.
The suspects are Biglo Tibila Desire who was spotted in a Catholic Church at Hamile on Saturday June 2; Tengen Dunor who was arrested on Wednesday, June 5, 2019.
Statistics
But Mr. Otchere-Darko wondered whether the Ghana’s Foreign Ministry can also warn Ghanaians traveling to the US and UK to be careful over terrorism attacks in those countries.
According to him, there has been real terrorist attacks in both the UK and the US but there has been none in Ghana, wondering why the UK continued to warn people against perceived terrorist attacks in Ghana when it continued to suffer real attacks.
Referring to research data on global terrorism situation, he said “according to the Global Terrorism Database from the US, in 2017, there were 10,900 terrorists incidents in the world, resulting in 26,445 deaths and 24,927 injuries.”
He revealed that “none was in Ghana. I mean not a single attack was recorded here.”
According to him, “United Kingdom registered 122 incidents, 42 deaths and 301 injuries. United States recorded 65 incidents, with 95 deaths and 932 injuries.”
He indicated that “the fact is no nation is safe and we, therefore, cannot be complacent. Our neighbourhood may not be as safe as we feel. There is evidence around us to that effect.”
According to Mr. Otchere-Darko “of course, our Foreign Ministry is also free to warn Ghanaians queuing for visas to the UK and USA that they should be careful about the real threat of an attack if they do intend to travel there.”
He concluded that “those countries have a long history of real and not imagined or predicted attacks. It is up to us to warn our citizens travelling there, too.”
BY Melvin Tarlue