SECURITY AGENCIES MUST COLLABORATE (PAGE 13, JUNE 3, 2010)

The National Security Co-ordinator, Lt Col Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, has underscored the need for effective collaboration among all players in the security set-up to ensure continuous harmony and peaceful co-existence at all times.
“Our aim is to ensure that people are able to go about their businesses without fear and with reasonable assurance of safety and to improve our capabilities for preventive action and early engagement,” he said.
LtCol Gbevlo-Lartey was addressing an orientation workshop organised for members of the various security committees from the Northern, Upper East and West regions in Tamale.
The two-day workshop was aimed at defining the roles of the various security committees to ensure a critical appreciation and clear vision of the government’s ‘Better Ghana’ agenda.
It was the third in a series of such seminars. Similar ones had been organised in some of the regions in the southern parts of the country.
Among the topics treated were the better Ghana agenda at the district level - expectations, the role and focus of security committees and leadership at the district level in the better Ghana agenda, and the effective use of bye-laws for the better Ghana agenda.
The Security Co-ordinator further observed that even though national security matters had often generated controversies, “it is about the responsibility to protect; it is about the survival of the republic”.
The Security Co-ordinator explained that security committees were not political since they were constituted with people from various political persuasions.
He, therefore, implored members of the committees to live up to expectation by discharging their duties with impartiality to ensure sustainable peace in their respective communities.
The Northern Regional Minister, Mr Moses Mabengba, expressed appreciation to the national security outfit for organising the workshop, which he said was timely.
“This is in view of the increasing number of flashpoints and the commonality of challenges to the three regions; and at a time when there are land disputes and chieftaincy upheavals,” he stated.
The minister, however, said the youth were those mainly used to perpetrate the conflicts because of the unavailability of jobs to engage their energies.
“The situation is not one of despondency and desperation. It is a pointer to the inadequacy of our efforts and the need for us to adopt holistic and more pragmatic strategies to deal with the evils of poverty and conflicts,” he stated.
The regional minister, however, appealed to the National Security Council to step-up their support for the security committees with the needed resources and vehicles to enable them respond rapidly to conflict situations in their respective regions.