Editorial: Is Something Wrong With Us?

Yes, a lot. Our national security apparatus must wake up to the growing incidence of breaches of law and order in the country. Tuobodom, Bunkpurugu, Bawku and other places are like active volcanoes waiting to erupt. Tuobodom was active last week, posting loss of lives and a nauseating picture of some youth abducting and stripping a chief naked. There are underground movements by various players who would exploit any opportunity offered them, directly or indirectly, in some of the flashpoints which appear to be slumbering at the moment. It is the detection of such movements which should be the focus of the national security system. Although the maintenance of law and order is within the purview of the police, it is our take that given the many challenges facing the internal security organization, reliable intelligence information through the national security system would be in the interest of the nation. The security anomaly in the country is widespread and given the growing disenchantment with the economy, it would not be long before aggrieved persons in some of the flashpoints exploit the situation for their ends. Economically-esurient people are not to be underestimated in their abilities to dare the most formidable force when pushed to the wall, especially when they lose confidence in the ability of the security agencies to remain neutral in the event of trouble. We are witnessing an unhealthy undercurrent of ethnocentric challenges and although we try to pretend that these do not exist, it is a fact that we are only playing the ostrich. It does not appear that politicians at the helm of affairs in the country are learning from the many lessons of history, considering their activities in some of the flashpoints. Otherwise, they would have been more cautious about some of their trouble-inducing actions. There is no flashpoint in the country where one faction does not feel it can draw support from the government or the security agencies, and therein lies the challenge we are referring to. We are not managing these challenges well enough and if the trend continues, it would not be long before we drive ourselves into the ditch of disaster. The development in Tuobodom is a source of worry to us all, even as some semblance of tranquility appears to have returned to the troubled town. We just hope that it is not the calm that precedes the storm. The manner in which firearms are used with reckless abandon calls for a serious reflection by all concerned Ghanaians, especially since some politicians, in their quest for power, would leave no stone unturned even if this entails breaching the law. The ease with which aggrieved persons can resort to the use of firearms is frightening.