Importation of weapons by member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) now needs the approval of the ECOWAS Commission. The move is to ensure transparency and ensure that each state is aware of the arms brought into the sub-region and the purpose for which they are procured. The acting Chairman of the Ghana National Commission on Small Arms (GNACSA), Mr Baffuor Dokyi Amoah, stated this when some members of the commission called on the Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Ibrahim Awal, at his office in Accra yesterday. The call was to solicit the assistance of the GCGL in sensitising the public to the activities of the commission, which include issues on small arms. Other members of the commission on the visit were Mr ones Borteye Applerh, the acting Executive Secretary, Chief Superintendent Aboagye Nyarko and Major Nick Darbo (retd). Also present were the Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Ransford Tetteh, and the General Manager in charge of Marketing and Public Affairs of the GCGL, Mr Frank Oduro. The GNACSA was established by an Act of Parliament (Act 736) in 1997 to advise the Minister of the Interior on small arms. It also ensures that Ghana respects all protocols and conventions on small arms and light weapons it has signed. In the sub-region, the suspicion that people carry weapons across borders affects the free movement of people and defeats the ECOWAS protocol on the free movement of people. Mr Amoah said producers of arms in the European Union ( ED) had agreed that due the various conflicts and the proliferation of small arms in the West African sub-region, no arms should be imported without a "Certificate of Exemption" from the ECOWAS Commission. He said applications for the importation of arms were circulated among all I5-member states and if no member raised any objection, the importing state was allowed to import the weapons. Mr Amoah said the cardinal objectives of the ECOWAS was to ensure the free movement of people but the proliferation of small arms had made movement difficult because of suspicion that people might be carrying arms across borders. "The earlier we control small arms, the better for everybody and for free movement," he added. He said two of the most important challenges facing the commission were armed violence and the non-availability of data on people who possessed arms and added that to fight the menace everyone needed to be alert. He appealed to the GCGL to use its widely circulated newspapers to educate the public and that issues regarding small arms had to be handled in a way that would not make the users panic and go underground. Mr Amoah said the establishment of the commission was born out of the various conflicts in the sub-region and added that the commission was an advocacy and advisory body. He said the impression had been created that the laws in the country were weak and that there was nothing really being done on small arms control, stressing that the impression needed to change. Among the initiatives being carried out by the commission, he said, was the equipping of the police small arms unit to acquire gun data. Mr Awal expressed his appreciation for the fact that the commission chose the GCGL for sensitisation and education of the public and that the company shared the concerns of the GNACSA on the need to control small arms. He said the control of small arms was important as money and investment always flowed to areas where there was peace and security, adding that the subregion needed stability for businesses to thrive. He pledged the support of the GCGL and added that the eight publications of the company would be used to "support your cause". Mr Tetteh said in the discharge of its duties, the editorial department faced the challenge of sometimes relegating some important issues to the background in a bid to sell its newspapers. He acknowledged the dangers that small arms posed to the state and said sometimes one wondered whether the production of small arms in the country should not be regularised instead of allowing the importation from outside and creating jobs for people in foreign countries. Source: Daily Graphic