Query source of income, wealth of people - Security expert

Security analyst, Adam Bonaa, has urged relevant security and financial authorities to query people's source of income and wealth to tackle money laundering, corruption, and ritual murders.

He said many people, including young people, were using various illegal means to acquire wealth in a short time, a situation that posed threats to peace and security if allowed to continue.

"Once we don't question people's source of income, crime rates can only go up because there is too much corruption, money laundering in West Africa," the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Security Warehouse Limited said on Friday.

He was speaking on insecurity in West Africa at a Heroes of Distinction Conference /Awards organized by the West Africa International (WAI) Press Limited, a private publication company in Accra.

The event created a platform for discussions on ways to improve security in the region and honour some 13 individuals and institutions for their contributions to the region's development in their respective fields.

"People carry GH¢10 million in their car boots. You can literary go to the bank and deposit GH¢200,000 in your account, but the teller won't ask you anything. Ritual murders have gone up. The question is that what are we doing?" Mr Bonaa expressed worry.

On violent crimes, he said the increasing number of illicit weapons in the West African Region required the utmost attention of leaders so they could curtail its associated threats to peace and security.

He said there were more than 15 million small arms and light weapons currently in the region which were being used to commit various violent crimes adding that "Today in Ghana, nine out of 10 violent crimes are by the use of firearms".

He said the security situation in the region should be taken seriously because no country, not even Ghana, which is enjoying some relevantly stable peace, was absolutely safe due to the increasing transnational crimes.

Citing employment, a security threat because jobless youth were being offered criminal means of survival, Mr Bonaa said, West African governments needed to work together to address the situation given that if one country created jobs for its youth, their counterparts in other countries would struggle to share with them.

Retired Court of Appeals Judge, and Chairman of the Governing Council of Wisconsin International University College, Justice Isaac Duose, who chaired the event, said there country needed to "soft security" issues such as hunger, poverty, hunger, jobs and health because they generated into the 'hard security issues".

For his part, Dr Dee Otibu-Asare, the CEO of WAI, said the sophisticated level of robbery, fraud and other crimes that had reached the region should be a wake-up call to leaders to step up their efforts in mitigating them.

Some institutions and personalities honoured included Mr Bonaa, Nana Akosua Frimpomaa Sarpong Kumankuma, North Hill International School, Azmera Restaurant and S. O Herbal Clinic.