It’s laughable to claim Ghana is secure – Prof Kwesi Aning

• Prof Aning says it's laughable to claim Ghana is secure

• He said security personnel should show a duty of care in dealing with civilians

• Some police and military have been brutalising civilians

Prof Kwesi Aning, Director of Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), has said the denial by the police that Ghana is not in a state of insecurity is laughable.

He said, the posture by the police compounds the insecurity of the country and creates fear and panic among the citizens.

Speaking on JoyNews on Saturday, July 3, Prof Aning said, “when the security services and their political masters refuse to listen and to engage; that is why Wa, Ejura and Sene military brutalities have happened. We have to ask ourselves how do we create a conducive environment where we can engage and dialogue.”

“The citizens who are raising their voice, those who are complaining are all driven by one aim; we want to partner and collaborate in a manner that will contribute to a functional stable society.

“A denial, and I think the police spokeswoman two weeks ago denied there was insecurity in this country. That is laughable,” he said.

Ghanaians have witnessed some form of police and military brutalities in some parts of the country.

A joint police and military force shot and killed two protesters and injured four others, demonstrating the killing of Ibrahim “Kaaka” Mohammed by some unidentified men in Ejura.

This was followed by another group of soldiers in search of a missing mobile phone went on a rampage in the Wa township, brutalising residents as part of their search.

Prof Aning said security personnel must show a duty of care and be measured in their actions when dealing with civilians.

He, therefore, called for an overhaul of the institutional culture and training of the Ghana Armed Forces.

Prof Aning stated that in a democratic dispensation, civil democratic control, there must be an engagement that “seeks to build institutions that speak to or respond to the needs and the changing dynamics of the communities that they serve.”