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Ghana's struggle with illegal guns

Ghana is grappling with the high demand of illegal weapons that are being made within the country. Alice Adu reports.

 

The basic economics of supply and demand come into play when it comes to illegal weapons in Ghana - the demands for illegal arms tends to be high in the places they are manufactured, Frank Asomani Boateng, of the Ghana National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons says.

In an interview with Pulse Ghana, Boateng revealed that the Commission has thought about approaching the people making illegal firearms to license them but the country is not there yet in terms of funding, but before that could be considered, the Arms and Ammunition Act needs to be reviewed and then group the manufacturer's into associations so that they can easily be identified.

Currently there are two associations, the Ashanti Regional Association of Blacksmith and the Northern Association of Blacksmith, he said.

In 2015, it was estimated that about 2.3 million gunswere in civilian hands - according to the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center in Accra.

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While people have their reasons for possessing firearms, includes safety and protection, defence and hunting, the threat posed by small arms and light weapons to security, peace and economic development is real.

On Saturday, July 9th at the forecourt of the International Trade Fair in Accra, the Minister of the interior Honorable Prosper D.K Bani said the Ghana Police will ensure that individuals found with unlicensed weapons will be arrested and prosecuted by law.

He commented that it is important to regulate this small arms and live weapons in Ghana so that the country will minimize the illicit manufacturing of small arms.

He said that in the event where a crime is committed, investigations could be easier because we are able to trace where and who committed the crime, also the agencies are able to monitor the movements of the arms from one place to the other.

The seizure and burning of small arms by the security agencies in order to check the misuse of small arms are carried out from time-to-time and one of such activities happened at the event honorable Bani spoke at.

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Organized by the National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons, funded by the United Nations Development Program and under the supervision of the Minister of Interior Honorable Prosper Bani, the event saw about 1500 guns destroyed.

Executive Director of WANEP, Chukwemeka Eze and the Ghana Army saw in the full glare of the public the arms being destroyed by the electrical, mechanical and engineering department of the Ghana Armed Forces and also present were the police, national service, immigration and CEPS.

Other agencies present included the United Nations Development Program and the national commission on small arms, as well as primary and secondary school children.

The programme started with a durbar, and saw some cultural displays and then started off with a welcome address from Brigadier General Francis Agyemfra (Rtd) as well as the board chairman of NACSA stated that the main purpose of the event was to create awareness to the general peace and security in the region.

When the time came for the destruction of the weapons seized from different parts of the country, the Commanding Officer for base workshop Burma Camp, Lt Col Sasu conducted them round to inspect samples of arms which were yet to be cut like the locally made pistols, locally made single/double barrel cap guns, pump action gun, local mortars and SMG’s.

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Others included spears, arrows, dagga (knife) as well as the 343 ammunition which  were also destroyed,G3 and AK47 which were unserviceable were also destroyed, however, serviceable AK47 and G3 were marked by the National Commission on Small Arms (NACSA) and will be later on handed over to the appropriate security agencies that make use of those weapons.

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