The National Peace Council has, while condemning the violence of separatists in the Volta Region, urged Ghana’s security agencies to keep a watchful eye on their activities by scaling up intelligence gathering.
The Council is also calling on them to deal decisively with those who have been arrested following yesterday’s coordinated attacks in the Volta Region.
In a press statement signed by William Kartey, Secretary of the Council, the Council roundly deplored the violence allegedly perpetrated by the secessionists and called on citizens to volunteer information on them so as to help the security agencies deal with the situation.
The Council noted that the illegal activities of the separatists risk plunging the country into chaos, especially at a time the country is battling the novel coronavirus even at it heads towards general elections on December 7, 2020.
“…More than ever before, Ghana needs peace at a time like this when the nation is preparing for elections, fighting Covid-19 pandemic with its antecedents of economic meltdown,” the Council stated.
Yesterday, in a well-coordinated manner, the separatists attacked police stations, blocked roads and exchanged fire with security officers before they were overpowered and 31 of them arrested.
The separatists are allegedly members of the Homeland Study Group Foundation, a group that wants parts of the Volta, Oti, North East and Upper East Regions to secede from the rest of Ghana. They cite history and neglect among others as reasons for their quest to secede.
Some security experts have criticised national security set ups for failing to foil the attacks given that the group has been in existence for a long time.
Ghanaians on social media took the security agencies to task for failing to pick intelligence on such an elaborate attack. The security agencies have, however, assured Ghanaians that they are on top of the issue and had managed to foil plans to burn the Ho Market before yesterday’s attacks.
