The putsch in Burkina Faso not only augments the troubles on the shoulders of our neighbour it demands of us to be extra vigilant along our porous frontier with that country.
Even as the citizens in the strife-stricken country are jubilating for the exit of the Preisdent Roch Marc Christian Kabore through an armed insurrection the fallouts thereof could be dire in terms of national security challenges for us.
Possible influx of people seeking asylum when matters get out of hand in our backyard and the smuggling of firearms from that part of the sub-region by gunrunners into our country are some of the few yet critical repercussions from Burkina Faso in its current state.
While we can count on the efficiency of our national security apparatus to deal with incidents related to the subject under review the porosity of our borders is an issue we cannot gloss over.
This is not the time for our security agents operating at the Ghana/Burkina frontier to let their guards down.
We need the cooperation of non-state actors living along the frontier and local security agents in this regard. National Security under the circumstances is a shared responsibility the importance of which must be imparted to the locals living along the borders.
With Bawku restive and the youth there eager to have firearms and a security- compromised Burkina Faso next-door, the ground is fertile for gunrunning.
Most illicit firearms are smuggled in from our porous frontiers and of course to the detriment of our national security situation.
Burkinabe security agents currently deflated by constant threats of bandits from Mali and within have little or no time in stemming the tide of gun smuggling.
The Burkinabe soldiers claim that their action was informed by the compromised security situation in the country occasioned by the rampant attack by bandits.
It is amazing that the soldiers would use this as an excuse to topple a constitutionally elected government.
The Armed Forces of that country like their counterparts elsewhere are charged with the task of protecting the territorial integrity of their country. Unless the military in Burkina Faso are telling the world that the government was not allowing them to discharge their constitutionally mandated assignment their reason for the treasonable action has no basis.
Such military adventurism is becoming all too common in the Francophone countries in the sub-region.
The leadership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have a Herculean task on their hands. Their authority has never been so abused or even trampled upon.
The ‘non-interference in the affairs of member countries’ by ECOWAS clause, is inhibitory and should be replaced by something stoic.
Military adventurism is drawing the West African sub-region backwards. Power-hungry soldiers in the French-speaking West African countries appear to have been infected by the contagion of military adventurism.
Just what makes young soldiers feel they have solutions to their countries economic and security challenges is difficult to fathom.
Guinea, Mali and now Burkina Faso all in the grips of soldiers who think they know it all about how to manage the fortunes of their countries.
All ECOWAS will do is impose weak sanctions in conference rooms as the power-stealing soldiers dig in and deride the actions of the economic community.