Barely 24 hours after predicting violent demonstrations and general political instability if government fails to deal with the worsening economic conditions and public discontent over corruption, the West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP) has apologized for issuing a “poor quality” report.

The organization Wednesday issued a statement expressing profound regret for the highly controversial report that was issued by its National Network Coordinator Isaac Bayor.

“The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) expresses profound regret over the Human Security report on Ghana released by its National Network on 21st January 2014 without subjecting it to peer review and the rigors that underpin our reports and analysis.” Emmanuel Bombande, Executive Director of WANEP said in the statement.

He reiterated: “Whereas the important exercise of Early Warning and the production of Human Security Reports will continue on a quarterly basis, WANEP will take the necessary steps to subject all its reports to peer review and collective analysis.”

Mr Bombande told Joy News “as a responsible institution such as WANEP when there is any lapse, when you err, the first thing you do is to apologise. So I repeat our apology profusely for all your listening public for the anxiety that the report might have caused the people of Ghana.”

He however insisted that WANEP has the capacity to analyse and predict precarious situations in countries in West Africa.

He explained that the strategy has been to gather “quantitative data” to make “qualitative analyses” in order to alert security officials to take pragmatic action to forestall any unfortunate incident.

He reiterated that yesterday’s National Human Security Early Warning report issued by WANEP was “not subjected to the kind of quality control that it is required”.

There is a disconnection between the data collected and the analyses as published, he acknowledged.

 The report, he expressed regret, was not evidence based and not empirical, vowing to maintain the standard WANEP is noted for. He added that the credibility of WANEP cannot be doubted.

Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Deputy Minister of Information told Joy News it is “heartwarming” that WANEP has “admitted [there is an] error inherent in the report”.

He recalled government’s initial reaction which suggested that the report was “deeply flawed, and cannot be supported by credible evidence”.

 He however lauded WANEP for accepting its mistake. “It is not easy to come across civil society organizations who are ready to eat their humble pie and acknowledge the mistakes they make.”

BELOW IS THE APOLOGY

The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) expresses profound regret over the Human Security report on Ghana released by its National Network on 21st January 2014 without subjecting it to peer review and the rigors that underpin our reports and analysis.

WANEP recognizes the need and importance of developing and nurturing a National Early Warning System that collects data and provides an empirical evidence-based analysis for averting and preventing violence and escalated social tensions. To this extent, the Regional Secretariat will continue to train and coach WANEP National Staff across the region in the gathering and analysis of data as well as the writing of such Early Warning Reports. WANEP regrets that in this instance the National Network Coordinator is new following the exit of the former and would need ample time to appreciate the sensitivity of such reports put in public domain.

Whereas the important exercise of Early Warning and the production of Human Security Reports will continue on a quarterly basis, WANEP will take the necessary steps to subject all its reports to peer review and collective analysis.

WANEP is currently engaging the media to review the peace and stability enjoyed in Ghana and the need to ensure that such peaceful environment is not taken for granted and abused.

Once again, we regret the poor quality of work of this report and continue to count on the public support in appreciating the WANEP Human Security Reports.

SIGNED

Emmanuel Bombande

Executive Director