Streetism is a threat to national security – Security Analyst

Mr Paul Boateng has described streetism as disquieting and startling

A security analyst at Africa Centre for Security and Intelligence Paul Boateng has lamented over the influx of foreigners and pervasiveness of street beggars’ in Accra and other big cities in Ghana.

He has described the situation as disquieting and startling stressing that it poses a serious threat to national security.

The security analyst has thus called on the government to promptly take pragmatic measures to help curb and avert streetism and its related activities in the country.

Paul Boateng disclosed this in an interview with Kwame Tutu host of Yen Sempa morning show on Onua FM on April 6 and attributed the recent murder cases involving minors to streetism and easy entry of foreigners into the country.

He told the host that the authorities and security agencies have paid little attention or seems to be silent on the activities of these homeless children, meanwhile they are the bane of the country’s insecurity.

He noted that people have clandestinely turned these children into business enterprises where they bring these minors from different African countries positioning them at vantage points on the principal streets to harass people for money.

He reiterated that these minors grow and are trained on the street to be involved in all manner of criminal activities because they have to fend for themselves when they grow up.

“Most of the recent criminal activities in the country are perpetrated by foreigners who have been allowed into the country without proper checks; even the Ghanaians among them are trained by these foreigners”.

Paul Boateng also attributed the insecurity and regular criminal activities in the country to the negligence of the security agencies and what he has described as porous borders.

He explained that Ghana’s borders are so porous while the security agencies also allow foreigners into the country without the requisite traveling documents.

He has therefore called on the government to beef up security at the borders and task the security agencies to demand proper traveling documents from foreigners before allowing them entry to Ghana.