Elections contribute to arms proliferation — Jones Applerh
The Executive Secretary of the Small Arms Commission, Mr Jones Applerh, has attributed the high proliferation of arms into the country to elections.
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He indicated that apart from the old religious and chieftaincy conflicts which sometimes resulted in the use of arms, election related violence has come to exacerbate the problem.
Baseline survey
"In a baseline survey that we contracted the Kofi Annan Peace Keeping Centre to do for us, it revealed that one of the things that leads to the proliferation of arms are elections," Mr Applerh stated.
At a sensitisation forum in Bolgatanga on the theme 'Armed Violence: A Threat to Democracy and Development', Mr Applerh warned the participants about the dangers of arms proliferation, particularly during elections.
The forum was organised by the Small Arms Commission, in collaboration with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and supported by the European Union (EU) attracted representatives of political parties, chiefs, youth groups and some students of second-cycle institutions.
Upper East 4th in arms proliferation
The executive secretary said the Upper East Region was ranked fourth on the league of regions and attributed it to the porous borders, adding that this has contributed to the pockets of chieftaincy disputes in the region, especially in Bawku.
He urged citizens to volunteer information to the security agencies on persons in possession of illegal arms to curb the dangers of arms proliferation in the region.
Cost of conflicts
A member of the Upper East Regional Peace Council, Rev. Eric Adjei Nmai, said studies had shown that violent conflicts and their management were 60 times more expensive than peace building or conflict prevention.
He said state resources which could have been invested in job creation activities such as infrastructural and skills development were normally used to support peacekeeping or conflict resolution activities in conflict areas.
"We have seen this happen in Bawku, Bimbila, Alavanyo and Nkonya, Hohoe and Yendi. In 2015, the municipal chief executive for Bawku lamented that on the average, the assembly spent about GH¢20,000 monthly from its Internally Generated Revenue (IGF) on peacekeeping operations and conflict resolution which made it difficult for the assembly to embark on other development projects".
Besides this noticeable cost,he says that armed violence breeds insecurity and breakdown in law and if a country is engulfed in this, it will definitely suffer reversals in investment and productions.
He said the most serious effect of violence was insecurity as a result of restrictions on free movement of persons as it happened in Bawku when men were banned from riding their motorbikes, which was the commonest means of transport in the area, thus affecting business and travels in the area for sometime.
Use dialogue
The Bolgatanga Municipal Director of the NCCE, Mr Gomez Adongo, admonished residents to co-exist peacefully with one another and use dialogue in solving their differences rather than resorting to arms.
