The Director, Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research, at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, has said that the successful implementation of the national security strategy will be akin to a fierce contest between light and darkness.

The light, here representing those who are seeking to have the national security strategy implemented “in a manner that respects the rights of people and listens to the right of people.”

Whereas the darkness represents “those who think that an opaque, invisible, abusive, disrespectful and threatening institution must still hold sway.”

Speaking on JoyFM’s Top Story, Prof. Emmanuel Kwesi Aning indicated that the implementation of the national security strategy would have to address the difference between how security is understood through the citizenry’s lens and how it’s practiced by the security operatives using the rule of law and the respect for human rights.

He said, "there’s a certain pronounced subjectivity as to what is perceived as an issue that should be tagged as security.

“So if you look for example, in the last 20 years, the way that security operatives have behaved, appropriated power unto themselves, it creates a dangerous misunderstanding that security can only be extended to people through violence. And that is wrong.”

He stated that though there have been previous attempts to rein in national security unsuccessfully, this new national security strategy is a step in the right direction towards achieving that.

He stated that, “there’s a lot of training that needs to be done in terms of changing attitudes, in terms of getting honourable members like Agalga who sit on the appropriate committees to play their critical oversight roles by using the power of the House to ensure that the Minister appears routinely before the subcommittee and also on the floor of the house to address pertinent issues.”

“A more open, accessible and engaging Ministry as well as implementation of a national strategy plan leads to a broader body in which we see the state as the guarantor of our safety and therefore we are willing to provide information, intelligence and in our little way protect the sanctity of the state is needed,” he added.

The Minister of National Security, Kan Dapaah who launched the document earlier today, June 7, stated that the document will help coordinate efforts in addressing issues of common concern across the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

He revealed that the Ministry will work diligently in line with the dictates of the national security strategy, to ensure that Ghana remains safe and secure with due regard to the respect and dignity of the citizens.

This comes after the National Security Ministry found itself in the news since May 11, when its operatives allegedly physically abused a Citi FM journalist at their premises.

President Akufo-Addo who was at the event added that the overarching vision of the National Security Strategy is to maintain Ghana as an open, tolerant, socially cohesive, peace-loving, people-centered, secure, united, and prosperous constitutional democracy that upholds the rule of law.