No place for terrorists in Ghana

By Ebenezer Hanson


The scourge of terrorism has not been lost on Members of Parliament (MPs): large numbers of people have been killed, massacred and maimed by terrorists in indiscriminate acts of violence and terror. It is to preclude these inhuman acts that the MPs have given their blessings to the Anti-Terrorism Bill which is seeking to position Ghana to combat, suppress and detect acts of terrorism in any part of the country.

The Bill also has, as one of its objectives, to prevent terrorists from using any part of Ghana, the country’s resources and financial services to commit terrorists’ acts and to protect the right of people in the country to live in peace, freedom and security.

“Apart from the tragic toll on human life, terrorism has also resulted in destruction of property and economic devastation. An imminent terrorist attack can never be defined or anticipated,” the bill observes.


Last Friday, the Bill was taken through the Consideration Stage during which some MPs sought to fine-tune the Bill through amendments, notable among the MPs were Hon. Haruna Iddrisu (NDC-Tamale South), Hon. John Ndebugre (PNC-Zebilla), Hon. Mahama Ayariga (NDC-Bawku Central), and Hon. Yaw Baah (NPP-Kumawu).

The Bill, under the sponsorship of the Attorney General, Hon. Joe Ghartey, observes that there have been terrorist attacks in Kenya, Tanzania and Egypt and as terrorism does not have boundaries with effects well beyond the border of the state where the act occurred, it is imperative that statutory provision is made to combat terrorism in this country.

It notes that although the there are provisions in the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 20) on the safety of the state and other pertinent matters on terrorism, these are not considered adequate enough to meet current international best practice standards on the subject. “ It is necessary to provide comprehensive anti-terrorism legislation to avoid a situation where the country may become a haven for terrorists because of laxity in the law,” notes the Bill.

It says it has become incumbent to have legislation on terrorism because all member states of the United Nations are obliged under the Security Council Resolution to “ deny safe haven to those who finance, plan, support or commit terrorist acts.”
Africa is vulnerable to the threat of international terrorism and important in global efforts to counter that menace. While 9/11 is generally regarded as the watershed in the threat from al-Qaida and its allies, the horrible August 7, 1998, attacks on the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania were an even earlier wake-up call.
These attacks killed and wounded far more Kenyans and Tanzanians than Americans, the ostensible target. These mass bombings brutally demonstrated the willingness of these terrorists to kill and maim large numbers of persons in far-flung corners of the earth, in countries that were not directly involved in the grievances of South Asia and the Middle East.
Additional attacks in Mombasa in November 2002 showed that terrorist cells were still active. Although there are concerns about attacks elsewhere in Africa, the Horn of Africa -- Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Kenya, and Tanzania -- are considered to be the area most at risk.
The main contributing factors include proximity to the Arabian Peninsula and the failed state of Somalia, large areas where the governments’ control is weak or non-existent, weak CT and police capabilities of host nations, the probable continued presence of the al-Qaida cell that carried out the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Dar Es Salaam and Nairobi, and armed conflicts that have long plagued the region.