The president Nana Akufo-Addo has appealed to Muslims in Ghana to be security conscious and report suspicious characters who are likely to engage in terrorist attacks in their neighborhood.

The appeal comes at a time when terrorism alerts in Ghana has been on a high with the recent arrest of a gun man, a Burkinabe national in a Catholic church in Hamile in the Upper West Region.

Speaking at the 2019 Eid al Fitr Celebration at the independence square in Accra, the president called on all Muslims to be vigilante and to strive for peace at all times.

“While the security agencies work to keep all of us safe, I encourage you to report suspicious characters who come into your communities to take advantage of our well acclaimed hospitality…let us also exercise restraint in the face of provocation for a lack of restraint will only feed into the destructive plans of these miscreants who seek to destroy in the name of religion,” he said.

The president further applauded members of the Roman Catholic church in Hamile in the Upper West,  Region who alerted the police about the presence of the armed person which led to his arrest.

He also commended Ghanaians, both Muslims and Christians for their peaceful co-existence which he says has earned Ghana the admiration of many around the world.

“Recently, during the Vice President Ramadan tour, they saw pictures of him and the heads of all the major Christian bodies in Kukoam in the Brong Ahafo region. These Christian leaders on hearing that Vice President was in the Central Mosque in the town, went to the mosque to be with him and to bond with the Muslim community in Kukoam,” he noted.

The Head of the Greater Accra Council of the Zongo Chief of Tuba says although leaders in the Muslim community are educating the youth against social vices such as terrorism, poverty is a major challenge which should be addressed.

“If they [youth] don’t have anything doing, somebody can just call them and give them small money and they will do everything that the person wants them to do. It is poverty but we are trying our best to make sure that are youth are educated,” he said.

He called for scholarship opportunities  to be given to Muslim children in have them educated.

Speaking on Joy News, the Minister for Inner City and Zongo Development Dr Mustapha Hamid assured that his outfit will soon rollout programs intended to keep Zongo youths very busy.

“The ministry of Inner City and Zongo Development is supposed to do four things; Improve educational infrastructure in Zongo communities; Security in the Zongo community; Developing business of Zongo people; ensure the heritage of Zongo communities is maintained,” he said.

He said they are training Zongo member in ICT to redirect the talents from “sakawa” to more productive ventures.

“You know that people say that zongo boys usually use their Knowledge of ICT to do “sakawa” …. So under the Zongo Coders Program, we teach them to identify the problems within zongo communities and develop software applications that can be used to address these things,” he said

Source: Nana Akua Gyidie