'CHECK USE OF SMALL ARMS' (p.34) 13-08-08

Story: Kofi Yeboah

A SECURITY expert, Mr Emmanuel Sowatey, has cautioned Ghanaians against the use of small arms during the electioneering, since they have the potential to plunge the nation into conflict.
He said although the danger of a looming conflict might not be as devastating as that experienced in Liberia and Sierra Leone, it was serious enough to warrant urgent attention from all and sundry.
Mr Sowatey, who gave the caution in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said there were serious pockets of conflict around the country that had to be avoided so that they did not spread throughout the entire nation.
He said political parties must be held accountable for the Code of Conduct for Political Parties prepared by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), which code prohibits them from the use of small arms and other offensive weapons in their campaigns.
Mr Sowatey said the use of small arms undermined the peace and security of the nation, as well as threatened and intimidated people to refuse to participate in the democratic process and freely express their political choice.
He urged the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Interior and Defence to be apolitical in the discharge of its duties.
Mr Sowatey recently attended the United Nations Biennial Meeting of States on Small Arms in the US, which brought together 135 countries in the world to deliberate on various issues relating to small arms, such as international co-operation and assistance, stockpile management, brokering, and marking and tracking.
He said the issues discussed were very crucial to the fight against small arms, adding that all those interventions were captured in the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons.
Mr Sowatey said Ghana had gone a long way in implementing the provisions of the convention by undertaking a baseline survey in 2005, subsequently organising a National Conference on Small Arms to validate the baseline survey, and making efforts to formulate a National Action Plan on Small Arms.
He said the main sources of small arms in Ghana were smuggling, leakages from armouries and legal importers, non-renewal of licences, and local manufacturing.
Mr Sowatey advised all holders of small arms to endeavour to register their weapons and renew their licences every year.