The Executive Director of the West Africa Centre for Counter-Extremism (WACCE), Mutaru Mumuni Muqthar, has called on the government to declare a state of emergency in areas severely affected by illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.

Speaking at the 9/11 Memorial Security Dialogue at the WACCE office in Accra on September 11, Mr Muqthar said illegal mining was creating conditions of social insecurity that could be exploited by extremist groups.

According to him, the country’s current security challenges require an emergency approach to tackling illegal mining and other vulnerabilities.

“If you look at the challenge of galamsey and ethnic conflict, these are vulnerabilities that can be exploited by extremist groups.

“Extremist groups look out for ungoverned spaces or spaces that have very weak governance in terms of enforcement of laws. So they exploit those vulnerabilities.

“Galamsey is a crisis that should have been declared a national emergency long ago, and we must ensure that we deal with it in ways that we have never done before,” he said.

The Executive Director of the Jatikay Centre for Human Security and Peace Building, Adib Saani, who was a panelist at the memorial dialogue, also called for greater involvement of civil society organisations (CSOs) in national security decisions.

Mr Saani said civil society organisations were often better positioned to understand security concerns at the community level because of their regular interactions with residents.

“We have a plethora of security challenges we face in Ghana. A lot of the challenges are internal, even though we are also concerned with threats that are coming from outside.

“It is important to recognise that this should not be left to the men and women in uniform alone. Everybody has an important role to play in safeguarding the peace and security of the country,” he said.

Mr Saani urged the National Security Secretariat to collaborate more closely with civil society organisations when designing and implementing security programmes.

“That is why it is extremely important that the state apparatus collaborates with other stakeholders, especially civil society organisations.

“The thing is, we are on the ground; we interact with the people on a daily basis. The people trust us; they listen to us. So, if you decide to implement such a programme without us, you are bound to fail, just as they have failed,” he added.