By Anthony Adongo Apubeo, GNA
Bolgatanga, Nov. 2, GNA – The National Security Council Secretariat has engaged stakeholders in the Upper East Region on a new draft National Security Strategy aimed at replacing the 2020 strategy, which has expired since 2024.
The engagement, held in Bolgatanga, sought to solicit inputs and recommendations from stakeholders to ensure that the proposed strategy reflected the security concerns and realities of communities across the country, particularly those in the Upper East Region.
The engagement brought together representatives of security agencies, traditional authorities, civil society and faith-based organisations, political parties, organised labour, academia, students and the media.
A National Security Strategy is a high-level government document that sets out a country’s national security interests, identifies the principal threats and vulnerabilities it faces, and provides strategic direction for how the state will protect and advance those interests.
It serves as the overarching framework within which individual ministries, departments, security agencies, and other relevant institutions plan, coordinate, and implement their activities.
Dr Mohammed Bako, Technical Aide to the National Security Coordinator, said the review marked a shift from the traditional state-centric approach to security towards a human-centred framework that placed people at the heart of national security.
He said the proposed strategy would also adopt a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, supported by an anticipatory governance framework to strengthen collective security.
Dr Bako said the Upper East Region was particularly strategic to Ghana’s national security architecture because of its geographical location, sharing borders with Burkina Faso and Togo, and serving as a buffer to the Sahel region.
He said the region’s location, coupled with its existing internal security challenges, made its contributions important to developing an effective national security framework.
He urged participants to identify threats and concerns that might have been overlooked in the draft document and propose measures that would make the strategy responsive to the region’s specific circumstances.
“We can sit in Accra and draft a document, but obviously what we see in Accra is not what the people in Upper East see, which is why we are here,” he said.
Dr Bako said the Secretariat was interested in receiving practical suggestions on what should be included in the document, stressing that the objective was to develop a strategy that addressed the security needs of all parts of the country.
In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Akamugri Donatus Atanga, Upper East Regional Minister, said security was fundamental to peace, social cohesion and sustainable development in the region.
“Our experiences with communal and boundary disputes, mining-related tensions, drug and substance abuse, organised crime, youth vulnerability and other emerging threats underscore the need for a coordinated, inclusive and preventive approach,” he said.
The Regional Minister stressed that national security was a shared responsibility that required the active participation of government institutions, traditional and religious authorities, civil society organisations, political parties, the private sector, academia, the media, young people and local communities.
He said socio-economic conditions, including unemployment, exclusion and vulnerability, also needed to be recognised in addressing the underlying causes of insecurity.
“Our objective should not merely be to identify threats, but also to propose realistic responses, clarify institutional responsibilities and strengthen collaboration among relevant stakeholders,” he said.
He reaffirmed the Regional Coordinating Council’s commitment to working with the National Security Council Secretariat, the Regional Security Council and other stakeholders to promote peace, stability and security in the region.
GNA
Edited by Caesar Abagali/Kenneth Odeng Adade
Reporter: Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Reporter’s email: [email protected]