Ghana urged to sign treaty on Arms Trade
The President of the West Africa Network on Small Arms (WAANSA), Mr Barfuor Amoa, has appealed to the government to ratify the United Nations Convention on Arms and Trade Treaty (ATT) to ensure the effective control of arms in the country.
Advertisement
Among other things, the treaty would, ensure effective control of the proliferation of arms in the West African sub-region and also ensure that countries only produced and sold weapons after meeting specific criteria spelt out in the treaty.
“If the purchase of weapons by a member country is likely to have any negative effect on another member country, the treaty will, in effect, prohibit the purchase of those weapons,” he added.
Mr Amoa made the appeal during a meeting with the media and civil society groups to brief them on efforts by WAANSA executives to lobby the government to sign the ATT.
He noted that so far, 193 countries across the globe had ratified the treaty, adding that 50 more states were needed to ratify it to make it enforceable.
Shining example
He noted that Ghana had been a shining example for countries in West Africa and across the world, adding that Ghana’s endorsement of the ATT would further enhance the country’s image.
He said executives of WAANSA had been able to meet with the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Interior, Foreign Affairs and Defence and also met the sector ministers in an effort to court their support for the ratification when the Cabinet met to deliberate on the ATT.
“We have also been able to meet with the Ghana National Commission for Small Arms (GNACSA) to ensure coordinated efforts that Ghana signs the ATT,” he said.
Other Trending Stories
Lt Col. Seth Ohene-Asare (retd), the Chairman of GNACSA, said the commission, which has its membership comprising institutions such as the military and police, was coordinating seriously to ensure that Ghana got hooked on to the ATT.
He disclosed that GNACSA had sent a draft copy of the treaty to the Ministry of the Interior and expressed the hope that the treaty would be ratified when Cabinet sat to deliberate on it.
He said GNACSA had been able to form associations for blacksmiths in the country at the regional level in an effort to ensure that the manufacture of local small arms was effectively controlled.
Mr John Poku, the Programmes Coordinator for Regional Small Arms and Light Weapons at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), said the centre had, since 2008, organised many workshops on stockpiles and small arms, with the aim of ensuring their safe usage in the West African sub-region.
He intimated that although Ghana did not have any orthodox means of weapons production, the country had been flooded by the proliferation of illegal small arms.
He called on all relevant institutions to join WAANSA in the fight to ensure that Ghana signed the ATT.
Some of the countries in West Africa which have signed the ATT are Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone.