Press Statement By Movement For Equal Rights And Justice

The Proliferation Of Arms In The Country- A Major Threat To The 2012 General Elections.

The Movement for Equal Right and Justice is worry over the proliferation of arms across the length and breath of the country, especially at the time Ghanaians will be going to the polls in December this year.
This year alone, a number of illicit arms have been retrieved by the security agencies. In January, 2012, a MAN Diesel truck with the Nigerian license plate number XA 761-YAB and branded in Coca-Cola colours, was impounded at Achimota in Accra, together with five suspects, including two Nigerians. It was carrying arms.
About a week ago, the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) intercepted a truck carrying arms, with registration number XV 163 FST, when it entered the Ghana side of the border with Togo enroute to Accra to load goods for Nigeria. The driver of the truck, who was to help in the investigation process bolted, having outwitted the security operatives that he was going to urinate, escaped.
Ghanaians have not witnessed any prosecution of these people, to serve as a deterrent to others; therefore importers of these arms have the notion that Ghana is a fertile ground for arms proliferation.
Again, we as a movement are worried about the failure of the security agencies to destroy these arms in the plain view of Ghanaians, as it is being done to Cocaine, Clothing, unwholesome food etc, if indeed we do not need them in the country.
Recently, armed robbery, chieftaincy disputes, land litigation, inter-ethnic disputes, just to mention a few, are on the increase, and they are facilitated by these illegal importation of arms. This unfortunate development however, includes mostly the youth of this country.
It would be recalled that prior to the 2008 general elections, the then main opposition party, National Democratic Congress(NDC), led by Johnson Asiedu Nketia, accused the NPP Government of importing arms into the country and arming its supporters to cause mayhem toward the elections. They went further citing the Anyaa bombing as a plot by the NPP to destabilize the election process. Today, can we measure them with their own words?
Movement of Equal Right and Justice believe that this is a purely national concern, and the security agencies must step up their efforts in ensuring more arrests and prosecutions without depending on whistleblowers. Howerever, we cannot tell how many of these arms have sneaked through our borders into the country.
We wish to call on the President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, who is also the Commander in –Chief of the Armed Forces to abide by the promise he made to Ghanaians, the US President Barrack Obama and the UN Secretary General, Ban Kin Moon, that, this year’s election would be incident free, by equipping the security forces to beef up their work.
We want an arms free country. By this statement we call on the Ghana Police Service to come out with a comprehensive statement on how many cargoes of arms have been arrested in this year alone, and to detail exactly what has happened to each consignment and what has been done to the perpetrators by way of arrests, prosecution and conviction. Ghanaians are waiting with bated breathe!

Thank You,

Directors:
Ralf Nuwonu: 0285417080
Joseph Otoo: 0266787070
Thomas Adongo: