The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Committee, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, has described the recent terrorist attack in Titao, Burkina Faso, which claimed the lives of eight Ghanaians, as a major intelligence failure.

Speaking in an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story on Tuesday, February 17, he called on government to institute an independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the attack in order to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

“This is a clear intelligence failure and to that extent, we believe that we should have some sort of an independent inquiry into this matter, to assemble all the facts and be able to inform our country and its agencies and state apparatus to be able to be on top of future occurrences such as this,” he stated.

His comments come in the wake of the February 14 jihadist assault in northern Burkina Faso, which targeted members of the Ghana National Tomatoes Traders and Transporters Association.

The Damango MP stressed the importance of regional intelligence cooperation, recalling that an ECOWAS-backed initiative - the Accra initiative introduced under the Akufo-Addo administration once served as a strong platform for intelligence sharing among coastal West African states.

He urged the government to revive and strengthen such collaborations as violent extremism continues to spread across the sub-region.

The Ranking Member also cautioned government to be mindful of how Ghana is perceived in the ongoing conflict in Burkina Faso, warning that extremist groups may interpret Ghana’s posture as taking sides.