Clashes among state security personnel shameful

For the umpteenth time, the Daily Graphic has had to return to the issue of indiscipline within and among the various security agencies of the country.

A case in point was on Wednesday, April 24, this year when a misunderstanding between some military personnel and some prison officers in Bawku in the Upper East Region resulted in injury to three prison officers, one severely, after a soldier had allegedly assaulted a prison officer at the forecourt of the palace of the Bawku Paramount Chief.

In an editorial in this paper following those clashes, we expressed worry about such developments, especially because that was not the first time there had been such an occurrence between personnel of different security institutions.

In that editorial of May 9, 2024, we cited an incident where some heavily armed military personnel who in March 2013, in the full glare of the public, clashed with some police officers in the Central Business District of Accra after some military officers allegedly attacked a plain-clothes police officer on a motorbike.

The police officer reported the incident to his colleagues in the Accra Central Police Station from where his colleagues on duty armed themselves and pursued the soldiers, arresting one of them in the process.

The soldiers also called for reinforcement in an attempt to rescue their colleague, but they were stiffly resisted by the police until some senior officers managed to quell the tension.

Yet again, in May 2018, there were bloody clashes between the police and military personnel in the Northern Region.

The latest clash was reported in the media a few days ago, when security agencies clashed on Wednesday, October 9, amid gunshots.The clash ensued after a misunderstanding at the Missiga security checkpoint in Bawku in the Upper East Region.

This time round, the clash involved personnel from three state security agencies  — the Ghana Armed Forces, Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority and the Ghana Police Service. The confusion centred around a truck carrying smuggled cocoa beens that was intercepted at the checkpoint.

Tensions escalated as the different security agencies had varied interpretations of their roles and actions regarding the consignment.

The police clarified that they had intercepted the smuggled consignment based on intelligence and were in the process of escorting the truck to the Bawku Divisional Police Command and, consequently, hand over the smuggled cocoa to COCOBOD for investigation and subsequent prosecution per established procedures.

The Daily Graphic is alarmed that in spite of the many assurances from the high commands of the security agencies of sensitising their personnel to the need to work together, these clashes seem unending, with each of the agencies wanting to show the other that they are more dominant or powerful in the affairs of state.

Once again, the usual assurances have been given that the leadership of the three security agencies have addressed the misunderstanding at the national level to ensure cooperation between the agencies and differences being resolved amicably.

We are also told that at the regional level, the Regional Security Council was also engaged in discussions with personnel involved in the incident. Interestingly, these had been similar actions the security agencies have taken in all the clashes that have been reported involving them.

The question on the lips of many is: If they really engage effectively why do the clashes continue?

Like any society made up of different people, the Daily Graphic is very much aware that with their different backgrounds and orientation there would be occasions where in the discharge of their mandate there would be some level of misunderstanding between or among our security agencies.

But when such misunderstandings lead to clashes with indiscriminate firing of rifles, there is cause for concern, and an urgent need to sit down and look at the issue holistically and dispassionately.

Such skirmishes are a blot on the country’s image, especially with our world-acclaimed excellent performance in international peacekeeping operations and other interventions.

The heads of our security agencies - the Chief of the Defence Staff, the IGP, the Comptroller General of the Ghana Immigration Service and the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, among others, must ensure that such undisciplined acts are nipped in the bud.

The unfortunate thing is that such occurrences give a bad signal to citizens who begin to copy such acts with the indiscipline likely to engulf the whole nation.