The Coordinator of the ‘See Something Say Something’ campaign of the National Security, says Ghana being the only country within the West Africa sub-region that has not suffered terrorist attacks does not mean it is immune to the attacks.
Akosua Danquah Ntim Sekyere said there is a need for the government to put in proactive measures rather than to sit aloof and suffer an attack before going into firefighting.
She said that informed the introduction of the ‘See Something Say Something campaign’ to encourage the citizens to report suspected security issues in their localities for swift action.
Madam Sekyere said this during a meeting with religious leaders in the Wa Municipality as part of a regional sensitisation tour by the National Security to educate the public on the ‘See Something Say Something’ campaign.
It was also to encourage people to call the toll-free line, 999, to report suspected security issues.
She said National Security was carrying out a nationwide citizen sensitisation on the ‘See Something Say Something’ campaign to enable the citizens to enhance their security consciousness.
“Whenever they spot anything suspicious within their community, within their space, they share such information with the security agencies or call the toll-free line (999) that the government has made available and report what they’ve seen to us, so we’ll be able to take charge of the situation on time,” she explained.
Madam Sekyere, who is the Team Lead, said violent extremists kept changing their modus operandi and that had made it more imperative that Ghana also adopted strategies to counter those of the extremists.
She said government, through the National Security, had deviated from the “whole-of-government” approach where government took charge of national security issues to the “whole-of-society” approach by bringing citizens on board to volunteer information on security issues when necessary.
She observed that the issue of security was a shared responsibility and advanced the importance of engaging the communities for the people to appreciate the need to complement the efforts of government in safeguarding national security.
“One man cannot fight it all by himself. We need the cooperation, the assistance, the support of every well-meaning Ghanaian, everybody resident in Ghana to safeguard our national security,” she indicated.
Kester Osei, a Team Member, educated the people on the accurate reporting of suspected security issues and introduced them to the “SALUTE” reporting format.
The “SALUTE” is an acronym that sought to present a vivid description of the suspected issue of concern object, a person or an action.
It described the size of the object or person, the activity of the person that called for attention, the location of the incident, the uniform (colour or type of dress) of the person, the time the incident happened, and the equipment the person operated with such as a camera or a gun.
He, however, warned against prank calls to the toll-free number as that could deny a person with genuine concern access to the Call Centre which could in turn affect the entire nation.
Issahaku Tahiru Moomin, the Wa Municipal Chief Executive, thanked the National Security for carrying out the sensitisation and pledged the support of the Assembly to their activities to help safeguard the security of the nation.
The failure of the agents at the 999 toll-free Call Centre to promptly respond to calls by citizens and the ineffective implementation of the security mechanisms by the National Security were some concerns the religious leaders raised.
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