What is going on in Burkina Faso is a contagion - Col. Rtd. Aboagye warns

Government charged to address issues of unrest in the country

Terrorism is not fought with only gun and ammunition, fix socioeconomic inequalities – Festus Aboagye

Military takeover currently happening in Burkina Faso

International conflict resolution expert, Col. (Rtd.) Festus Aboagye has indicated that Ghana is not extremely safe from coups as has been experienced in other West African countries.

According to him, the problems that fuel the various coups in Mali, Guinea and Burkina are prevalent in Ghana as well.

“Corruption is here as in Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso.”

He thus charged government to as a matter of urgency implore measures that critically address the socio-economic inequalities to fight terrorism and attacks.to protect the country from terrorism and attacks.

“All of us need to be worried. I belong to the school of thought that you don’t fight terrorism with only guns and bullets. Indeed, it will be more productive to address some of the socio-economic inequalities.”

“I don’t need to be a political scientist or an economist to argue that the Northern part of this country [is] bordering countries that are unstable, where there are gross socio-economic inequalities,” he stated.

Speaking on Newsfile on JoyNews, the former army official warned that the country is prone to similar coups and attacks as is happening in other neighboring countries if the issues in Ghana are not dealt with.

“What is going on [in Burkina Faso] is a contagion; forget that the UN Secretary-General called it an epidemic. A contagion can spread in all manner of ways, especially if the conditions are right.

“Although there are some specificities of country context for these military coups, some of them can be found in West African democratic states, including our own.”

Festus Aboagye said, “We could find some of the grievances that have been used by the military in other countries in our own country and, therefore, we need to be very concerned.”

He noted that “political influence on the military or security services in those countries is also present in our country.”

On Monday, January 24, 2022, there was a military coup in Burkina Faso due to the deepening anger about President Roch Marc Christian Kabore’s response to violence by armed groups.