GBA calls for consensus on security situation

The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has expressed worry over the increasing levels of  insecurity in the country and called for a national consensus on security issues and for more logistics to be made available to the law enforcement agencies to ensure societal safety.

“Perhaps it is time to drastically change our attitude towards security as a whole. It is obviously time to re-assess the proverbial Ghanaian hospitality and to be extremely vigilant and be one another’s keeper,” the President of the GBA, Mr Anthony Forson Jnr, said in Accra at the 37th anniversary remembrance service of the three High Court judges who were abducted and murdered in 1982.  

Reading a presentation of the GBA, titled: “Lest We Forget”, at the memorial service, Mr Forson said in recent years there had been a surge in criminal activities which had threatened the safety of persons and heightened the general feeling of insecurity in the country.

He acknowledged that insecurity was not limited to only Ghana, as the world was witnessing an increase in major criminal activities, including terrorism, which had compelled countries such as the United States and France to tighten their security through increasing budget allocations and creating awareness of security issues among their populace.

Threats  

“Ghana, in recent years, has equally witnessed some activities which have threatened and questioned the general safety of the country.

 Crimes such as armed robbery and kidnapping have been rampant in the past few years.

 These activities lay bare the huge lapses in our security as a country,” he said at the event to commemorate one of the darkest spots in Ghana’s history.

On the day that lawyers and judges hung their cloaks and wigs to mourn their departed colleagues, the auditorium of the Kaneshie Presbyterian Church was packed with personalities, including the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia; the Chief Justice, Ms Justice Sophia Akuffo; the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Ms Gloria Akuffo, and justices of the Superior courts.

Crime figures  

According to figures from the Ghana Police Service, 968 robbery-related cases were recorded in the first quarter of 2018.

A report by the Statistics and Information Technology Unit (SITU) of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the service revealed that 1,772 robbery cases were recorded at the end of 2017, compared to