Poverty In Ghana May Be Challenging Security

Written by Makula Dunbar

Dec 12, 2014

A former National Security Advisor, Brigadier General (Rtd) Nunoo Mensah has warned that Ghana risks becoming like Burkina Faso or Northern Nigeria if the living conditions of the poor in the country are not improved.

He pointed out that the root cause of the Boko Haram menace in Northern Nigeria and recent political upheavals in Burkina Faso is poverty which also seems pervasive in Ghana. Some security experts have also hinted of the possibility of some Ghanaian youth joining the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram because of their poverty situation.

In an interview with Citi News, the two-time Chief of Defense Staff was of the opinion that Ghana seems not to have learnt anything from the June 4 uprising; an event he condemned. He recalled that the day before the June 4 uprising was very peaceful, “I went to bed and then June 4 there was mayhem. There will be no sign that something is going to happen.”