Nov polls: weapons being stockpiled – Arms Commission

The Small Arms Commission has raised red flags in its latest report calling for the need for the security services to clamp down on the proliferation and spread of small arms and light weapons, especially in the Ashanti Region.

The Commission warned that the increasing number of arms and ammunition in the region could lead to political violence as the country prepares for the November 7 presidential and parliamentary polls.

The warning also follows news of a number of arrests of truckloads of rifles and large quantities of ammunition in the region as well as in some parts of the country.

The commission has called for some attention to be focused on vigilante groups, who normally use such weapons to commit crimes and cause chaos during elections.

Director of the Small Arms Commission Jones Borteye Applerh indicated that security agencies must put in more efforts in order to prevent any crisis.

“The commission did a study on the level of small arms proliferation in Ghana and 2.3 million weapons were found to be in civilian hands. What bothers us now is why Kumasi has become an attraction for assault weapons. One of the triggers for weapons [movement] in West Africa is elections. Any country going into elections must be extremely watchful. Most of these vigilante groups sell their services to anyone who is interested, including the politicians,” he told Accra-based Joy FM Friday May 20.

320 AK47 rifles and two sets of magazines were recently impounded by the police in the Northern Region.

The weapons were intercepted as they were being transported from the Upper East Region to the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi.

In December last year, a 72-year-old Burkinabe, named Moro Sata, was arrested by police after the Manhyia Divisional Command retrieved arms including 11 AK47 assault rifles, 10 G3 guns, an M15, and other light machine guns from his vehicle.

According to the police, some of the weapons could be mounted on pickup trucks. There were others, the police said, which could be used to shoot down aircraft at close range.

It emerged recently that local farmers in Agogo, also in the region, were arming themselves with guns of various sort to fight off aggression from Fulani herdsmen.

The locals said they could no longer suffer the trampling and destruction of their farms by cattle belonging to the Fulanis, as well as the raping of their sisters, mothers, and wives, and killing of their relatives by the same nomads.

Recurrent skirmishes between host communities and the Fulani herdsmen have led to the death of at least 25 locals and an unknown number of Fulanis in recent times.