The Dean of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFSC), Dr. Vladimir Antwi-Danso, has said that much more has to be done to increase awareness about what needs to be done to maintain public safety.

Speaking in an interview on The Probe on Sunday, Dr. Antwi-Danso recommended that people should be made aware of the threat of terrorism in the country.

The academic was responding to a caution by the Deputy Minister of Defence, Kofi Amankwa-Manu that all is not well with regard to security in Ghana, thus "we must shine our eyes" while speaking on the same show.

Dr. Antwi-Danso said, “It is not just merely mentioning that we should shine our eyes. There must be a conscious effort in making the people aware that we should shine our eyes.”

Discussions on The Probe were held against the backdrop that the West African Center for Counter Extremism has warned that with more than 53% of all ECOWAS states experiencing insurgencies plus the pervasive spill-over phenomenon in neighboring countries, Ghana’s border regions are a key area of concern.

In April, 2022 alone, about 48 terror attacks or terror related incidents were recorded resulting in the death of at least 323 people leaving dozens injured. 

According to Dr Antwi-Danso, the security agencies “should not be made to work in silos" as a means to deal with the issue of terrorism.

This, he explained is because “intelligence is the biggest weapon against terrorism, because they are always one step ahead of whatever you have.”

“Look at the Nigerian army close to 200,000 and they cannot defeat Boko Haram of about 3,500 because intelligence is not working properly and the corruption and other issues within the society are not making it possible for Boko Haram to be rioted. So over here, if we want to shine our eyes, people must be made aware of terrorism. What I call mainstream terrorism,” he stated.

Meanwhile Security Analyst Adib Sani has called for vigilance at the shopping malls.

In an interview on Joy FM’s Midday News on Monday, he said that such places should be given much attention because they are potential targets, adding “that any place where people gather en masse is a potential target.”

“So we need to look at the malls, we need to look at the schools, hospitals. It is unfortunate that in Ghana, people go into the malls, do all their shopping and come out without any form of security check,” he said.

As a result, he proposed the introduction of a metal screening at the entrances to venues where many people assemble.