Traditional authorities should be schooled on basic security tips - Minister

The Upper East Regional Minister, Honourable Stephen Yakubu has advocated the need for traditional authorities whose jurisdictions cover border areas to be schooled on basic security tips to enable them to identify security risks and promptly report for appropriate action.

He said apart from the ability of the initiative to identify and prevent any possible spillover of violent extremism in the Sahel Region, it would further curtail conflicts in conflict-prone zones in the Region.

He said the Traditional Authority needed to understand the security implications of strangers who settled in their communities without proper background checks on them and stressed the need for the Authorities to engage the services of the Ghana Police Service before strangers were accepted into their traditional areas.

Honorable Yakubu, who is the Chairman of the Regional Security Council (REGSEC), said this when the Deputy Ambassador of the Netherlands and her staff called on him in his office to discuss issues of peace and security in the Region.

He told the Deputy Ambassador and his team that the Ghanaian culture does not despise or reject visitors who sought parcels of land for farming or development activities but frowned against visitors with bad intentions.

The Minister said the Upper East was the only Region that shared international boundaries with two countries, Togo and Burkina Faso, and had a population of about 1.3 million residents.

He said the uniqueness of the Region compelled the government to initiate security measures to protect its citizens, especially those living along with border areas from any violent extremist attack.

Honorable Yakubu said the Region was endowed with lots of natural resources, especially gold deposits, while its farmers actively engaged in farming activities, and cultivated several varieties of food crops including tomatoes, green pepper, okra, and maize among others.

Ms. Ketja Lasseur, the Deputy Ambassador on her part, said her outfit would collaborate with Ghana to prevent any spillover of radicalism and violent extremists attack and expressed gratitude to the Regional Minister for the warm reception she and her team enjoyed.