Ghana is more vulnerable to the security occurrences in neighbouring Burkina Faso and even Mali than previously.
With the lowering of the French flag in the two countries, the field is left to the command of the local Burkinabe and Malian forces, their limited equipment and shattered morale impacting negatively on their efficiency.
The two countries’ former colonial masters were ordered out of the two countries by the respective juntas whose leaders ousted their previous governments, ostensibly to fight pro-Al Qaeda and Islamic State militants.
Negative security challenges in the two countries resonate here for obvious reasons, and that is why all hands must be on deck to deal with any security eventualities.
We do not doubt the fact that our national security managers are watching the worrying unfolding developments in neighbouring Burkina Faso and of course taking the necessary measures against possible spillover.
The pouring into Ghana of refugees from that country speaks volumes about the state of insecurity in that part of the sub-region.
Appropriate measures are being taken in response to the influx through registration among other procedures.
The capacity of the two juntas to respond to the now constant attacks by the insurgents is justifiably in doubt.
Even with the presence of the French Special Forces, the insurgents were able to carry out occasional yet deadly assaults.
In the Oudalan Province in the northern part of the country, the death toll from a recent ambush by insurgents has risen to 51, with many taken to hospital, a report posted a couple of days ago indicated.
The ambush and its attendant casualties have taken place on the heels of the departure of French Special Forces from the country, having been given the marching orders by the junta, as indicated in a previous paragraph.
If the Special Forces from France whose bastion role was a hindrance to the insurgents is no more applicable, then the latter are being given the carte blanche to do as they please: plunder, assault and murder et al.
What it means to us in Ghana is that we are more vulnerable to the criminal and destabilising activities of the insurgents than we were when the French Special Forces were stationed in the two countries.
The junta leaders’ claim that they staged their coups to enable them to neutralise the insurgents does not pass muster.
The two former French territories, and who have for long been dependent upon the largesse of France, cannot hold back the insurgents who are heavily armed and more daring than the regulars and even so-called local Special Forces from Burkina and Mali. They might have been trained in elite military academies in France and elsewhere, but without the sophisticated state-of-the-art military materiel and even scientific intelligence gathering mechanism, they are useless in the face of marauding insurgents with the backing of Islamic State elements.
Being alert and educating residents living along the frontier about the security occurrences in Burkina Faso and what to do when suspicious elements are noticed can be helpful.