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Tamale, Ghana – The Greater Accra Region has been cited as the most volatile region in Ghana currently; that is according to the Institute for Peace and Governance (IPEG) quarterly peace and governance index report released on Thursday.
Closely following the Greater Accra Region are the Eastern and Ashanti Regions whereas the Ahafo, North East and Oti Regions were cited as the most peaceful and incidents free regions in the country.
“Greater Accra Region is the most volatile region with 20 reported incidents, followed by Eastern Region, a previously docile region with 18 incidents and Ashanti Region with 14 reported cases.
“With regard to the most frequent security threats, Violence Against children recorded the most recurrent incidents with 17 cases, Murder/suicide recorded 16 incidents, Disaster recorded 13 reported cases and Road accidents recorded 12 reported incidents”, Head Programmes at IPEG, Justin Bayor said in a press release copied to SavannahNewsOnline.Com.
The report, dubbed “State of Security in Ghana”, which covered the month of October, recorded 88 incidents out of which there were 98 reported deaths and 167 reported injuries.
The report focused on 17 different indicators such as Youth Related violence; Violence against women; Violence against children; Politically motivated violence; Road accidents; Armed robbery/armed attack; Corruption; Arms proliferation; Murder/Suicide; and Farmer pastoralist clashes.
The rest are Oil and gas/mining related violence; Disaster-Fire outbreaks/arson, floods, rainstorms, drought; Health related violence; Human rights abuse; Threats of violent extremism; Strikes and labour/industrial unrests; Chieftaincy, ethnic, land and religious violence; and Drug related crimes.
“Of the 98 reported deaths, 36 were related to Disasters, 35 were related to Road accidents, 17 were Murder/suicide related cases and 5 were related to Armed robbery/armed attack. The remaining 5 deaths came from Health and Youth related violence.
“In terms of reported injuries, Road accidents alone accounted for 106 injuries whiles Disasters accounted for 30 injuries and 19 were related to Armed robbery/armed attacks. Other injuries recorded include Politically motivated violence (9), Murder (2) and Youth related violence (1)”, the press released pointed out.
On the way forward, IPEG among other things appealed to the government “to use its various agencies to deal with issues concerning violence against children, as it has the potential to severely damage the future of children in the country, thereby threatening to derail the gains of free SHS.
“To critically look, through the appropriate agencies, into the likely causes of high incidents of murders and suicides in the country as there may be a likely direct link between these and dissatisfaction in society. We also call on Government in the face of recent job losses and attendant bank closures, to establish social programmes to cushion victims”.
IPEG also urged the government “to use NADMO and other financial institutions to help reduce the economic and social burdens of the victims of disasters and to utilise the appropriate agencies to deal with the annual ritual of flooding in the country”.
The think-tank furthermore appealed to law enforcement bodies such as the police to increase their security patrols and strict enforcement of the law especially along the highways.
The Institute for Peace and Governance is a think-tank that undertakes research into peace and security matters in order to inform policy directions. It seeks to critically engage relevant focus areas on peace, conflict, human security and governance aimed at informing policy formulation and institutional practice in Ghana.
By SavannahNewsOnline.Com/Philip Liebs
