Let’s remain calm while investigations continue

The government’s announcement of a foiled plot “targeted at the Presidency, with the ultimate aim of destabilising the country”, has thrown the country into a state of shock and disbelief.

The announcement is seen by many as very scary, for, if in the current democratic dispensation we can still have a group who wants to use violence and the barrel of the gun to rule the affairs of men, then it is most worrying.

The last thing anyone would ever think of was someone picking a gun to attack the seat of government, and for that matter attempt to overthrow it.

Having travelled over 25 years into the current Fourth Republic, the wish of many people is to see our democracy entrenched the more. After all, it is better to live under a democratic dispensation, where the rule of law works, than in a military dictatorship.

Meanwhile, it is good to learn from the announcement that our security agencies have stepped up their game to keep society safe and secure.

As citizens, we cannot expect anything less than a secure and safe country where the citizenry live in peace with one another.

The Daily Graphic believes that this also enjoins the citizenry to partner the security agencies by providing them with relevant information in a timely manner to help them effectively detect crime and smoke out the criminals and their agents.

We do not have to keep or shield criminals and only raise the alarm bells when the harm has already been done.

We share the sentiments of a security expert, Dr Emmanuel Kwesi Aning, that instead of drawing hasty conclusions from the announcement of a coup plot, the country must pay more attention to the manufacture and management of small arms.

Certainly, the manufacturers may not have any better source of livelihood apart from manufacturing arms.

This calls for the provision of a sustainable alternative source of livelihood which will discourage majority of them from continuing in the trade.

Equally important is the issue of addressing the circumstances warranting the high demand for such weapons by people.

It is easy to attribute the demand for the weapons to the numerous conflicts, especially chieftaincy and land-related conflicts, as combatants seek to hold on to authority or property.

As indicated by Dr Aning, there are more than two million unregistered locally manufactured arms in circulation, hence the need to find out why people procure those weapons in Ghana and their continuous manufacture.

To deal with this challenge, the National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons needs to be adequately resourced to enable it to carry out its mandate “to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons; educate and sensitise the public and provide information on the dangers of small arms and light weapons in order to discourage their production”.

It is also imperative that the commission keeps a reliable database of gun owners for effective monitoring.

Another issue which needs the attention of all is unemployment. Given the high rate of unemployment, compounded by returnees from conflict areas, unemployed persons become easy prey for opportunists to use to destabilise the country.

We must, therefore, come together as a people to create an enabling environment for the economy to grow to provide jobs for our people.

For now, the Daily Graphic urges Ghanaians to remain calm while investigations continue into the plot to destabilise the country.