Security analyst, Professor Emmanuel Kwesi Aning, has accused President John Dramani Mahama’s top security officials of providing him with inaccurate assessments of the chieftaincy crisis in Bawku—a conflict that has led to numerous deaths.

Speaking in an interview with Joy FM and monitored by GhanaWeb on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, Professor Aning said the security officers misinterpreted the situation which led them to encourage the president to visit the affected community.

"Our risk assessments have at best been hollow and at worst utterly disgraceful. What was concluded that encouraged His Excellency the President to go to Bawku triumphantly? It means that the security chiefs around the president misread the signals and gave him the impression that everything was fine—that we were on our way to peace. They told him that his presence would accelerate the peace process and now everything has unraveled. So what happened?

"It would be appropriate for the President to call for an emergency meeting of critical minds to reassess the intelligence. I can bet you that by this time, next year, if we continue using the same variables and approaches in our analysis, we’ll be having the same discussion. The various factions will be even stronger, more daring, and more prepared to challenge the authority of the Ghanaian state,” he said.

This statement comes in the wake of the renewed violence in Bawku.

The Ghana Police Service has issued a wireless message raising concerns over the escalating attacks on its personnel and their families in Bawku and its environs.

In response, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Christian Tetteh Yohuno, has ordered all personnel stationed in the region to wear full protective gear and also prohibited them from moving around without armored escort.

He has further prohibited officers and their families from entering the area.

According to Prof. Aning, the police directive is an implicit acknowledgment that the security situation in Bawku has significantly deteriorated.

He warned that reports of an attempted assassination of the IGP coupled with the recent murder of two officers in Binduri clearly indicate how undaunted the armed groups perpetrating violence at Bawku have become in the face of the security forces.

“In operational terms, this sends a signal to those armed groups that they are gaining the upper hand—that the security forces are being cornered,” he said.

“We need a dramatic shift in our operational tactics within the next 72 hours, otherwise, I fear we will lose the initiative.”

KA

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