Let’s raise awareness of terror attacks

Recent attacks in Mali, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire, as well as current intelligence on extremist activities in West Africa, show that the threat of terrorism is very real and Ghana cannot underestimate it.

Indeed, reports of some Ghanaian students joining major terrorist organisations should be a wake-up call to us as a nation.

Currently, there are news reports on the activities of Al Shabab in Somalia and Kenya. Similarly, the ISIS is terrorising the people of Syria and Iraq by engaging in unspeakable cruelty, threatening religious minorities with genocide and beheading hostages.

There have also been attacks in Egypt, Ottawa, Sydney, Paris, New York and Copenhagen.

All these point to the fact that the fight against terrorism is a global one which requires a concerted global effort to overcome it.

It is in line with this that efforts by Ghana’s security chiefs to engage  with members of the public, particularly owners of public places, as part of raising the consciousness of Ghanaians of potential terrorist attacks are in the right direction.

Daily Graphic sources indicate that the security chiefs had, in the past two months, met owners of hotels, supermarkets/malls and universities in the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions and certain proactive measures have been put in place.

Undoubtedly, the security forces do not want to take any chance, hence the effort to engage with identifiable groupings to make it impossible for any terror attack to be replicated in Ghana.

While this laudable exercise is taking place, the Daily Graphic would like to remind the security forces to take special interest in the youth who are exposed to all sorts of radical ideas on the Internet, from their peers and fundamentalist movements.

In addition, all Ghanaians and, indeed, all residents of the country must be educated on what to do on identifying suspicious characters and how to link up with the security agencies.

In line with that, the Daily Graphic would like to reiterate the need for members of the public to be vigilant, cautious, curious and security-conscious in their daily endeavours.

As it is, the strategies used by terrorists appear to differ from country to country and it is, therefore, imperative that any public education takes that into account.

We urge all residents of the country to be vigilant by taking note of their environment and providing proper description of incidents and the personalities involved to the law enforcement agencies.

According to the security experts, potential terrorists could rent private apartments from where they could strategise to cause mayhem to Ghanaians.

Landlords should, therefore, take extra measures in knowing their tenants in respect of who they are and what they do for a living.

Since security is a shared responsibility, the Daily Graphic would like to remind the public to bear with security measures that may be enforced at various locations from time to time for the purpose of public safety.

We must remain unwavering in the fight against terrorism and endeavour to share intelligence in an effort to address issues on terrorism in the country.