“Guns are now so cheap that one can obtain a locally manufactured gun for as low as Ghc20 and above,” says Dr. Kwesi Aning, a security analyst. He said that 60 per cent of guns used for armed robberies in Ghana are locally manufactured while the remaining 40 per cent are automated guns. He said research has shown that there are more than 150 towns and villages in Ghana where guns are locally manufactured. Most of these manufacturers make the guns for chiefs and local authorities who display them as a symbol of authority during festivals, traditional gatherings and festivals. Dr. Aning who was speaking in an interview with Citi FM, said “Gun manufacturing has been with us for centuries now. Chiefs manufacture them for themselves but the unfortunate part is that, these manufacturers also manufacture these guns for the market too”. He added that these local manufacturers cannot be stopped but a more workable solution would be to dialogue with them so we could monitor, manage and control the production of local guns. Dr. Aning called for a rapid educational campaign to enable the public easy access to the security services (contact numbers and information) when it comes to a robbery. He also called on the security services to be very vigilant. Sharing his thoughts on the issue, a Criminologist, Prof. Ken Attafuah said, crime has been with us since time immemorial and the most modern form of crime now is white-collar crimes which includes cyber or internet fraud popularly known as ‘Sakawa’. Prof. Ken Attafuah said guns are very important to armed robbers during an armed robbery. “Armed robbers use weapons especially guns to scare the people they are robbing and also they use it as an escape tool. They sometimes fire the gun to prove to you that they are in charge”. Story by Aglanu Dela Ernest/Myjoyonline/Ghana