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Youth unemployment, terrorism in Sahel can disrupt Ghana’s political stability – Security Report
The West Africa Center for Counter-Extremism (WACCE), says Ghana’s political stability may be disrupted, in the wake of terrorism in the Sahel and other domestic challenges such as youth unemployment.
In a report by the regional security research organisation, it said even though Ghana has been relatively peaceful over the years, there is the likelihood of an upsurge, due to recent happenings in the sub-region, and neighbouring countries such as Benin, Togo and Ivory Coast.
WACCE maintained that the threats of political instability can, however, be forestalled if measures are put in place to prevent the impending dangers.
“The threat of terrorism is increasingly descending from the Sahel towards the Coastal States. Today more than 53% of all ECOWAS states are experiencing insurgencies. The pervasive spillover phenomenon makes Ghana’s border regions a key area of concern.
“Recent attacks in Benin, Togo and Ivory Coast highlight the determination of the terrorists to expand beyond landlocked Sahelian countries, where the insurgency has devastated thousands of lives and property in the last decade.
“Ghana has a big number of prolonged unresolved chieftaincy and ethnic conflicts and tensions, particularly in the Northern regions.
“The inherently high exploitative capacity of extremists implies that these vulnerabilities put Ghana in danger of terrorist exploitation”, a summary of the report revealed.
The report further stated that “Many analyses project the pervasive youth unemployment rate of about 5%9 as one of the biggest risks. The present government set up the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) to absorb the high number of unemployed graduates, most of them temporarily.
The growing joblessness has driven many onto cyberspace to live in an illicit economy.
The determination of social activists such as the #FixTheCountry campaigners to exploit the security, economic and governance challenges amplifies the risks associated with youth grievances.
The above highlight the widespread nature of the threat to Ghana and underscores the importance and urgency needed to escalate national commitment to preventing the threat from spilling into Ghana”.
In a related development, an international conflict resolution expert, Col. (Rtd.) Festus Aboagye has charged government to address the socio-economic inequalities to fight terrorism and attacks.
According to him, factors and circumstances that have led to military coups in other West African countries exist in Ghana; hence, government must put stringent measures to deal with the grievances of agitated groups and individuals.
n an earlier interview on Newsfile, the ex-military officer warned that the country is susceptible to similar coups and attacks in other neighbouring countries if the socio-economic needs of the citizens are not fixed.
“All of us need to be worried. I belong to the school of thought that you don’t fight terrorism with only guns and bullets. Indeed, it will be more productive to address some of the socio-economic inequalities.
I don’t need to be a political scientist or an economist to argue that the Northern part of this country [is] bordering countries that are unstable, where there are gross socio-economic inequalities”, he stated.
Touching on how the looming political instability can be averted, WACCE said, “The overall effectiveness of Ghana’s response will be determined by the State’s willingness to recognise that the battle against terrorism and the drivers that underpin it cannot be won on the battlefield alone.
It will be won in the local community in dealing with the drivers of radicalization and building resilience against the threat.
It will be won by effectively addressing grievances, mobilizing local community support and goodwill to build the social and economic infrastructure that is required to build resilience against extremism”.
Source: www.myjoyonline.com
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Swedru All Blacks back to winning ways, Roshan humble King Faisal
Sekondi Rospak FC made it eight wins in eight successive home games after three second-half goals from John Amoah, Joseph Ntow and Stephen Anthony Kofi. John Amoah opened the scoring in the 55th minute after a barren first half. Joseph Ntow added to the tally in the 56th minute before Stephen Anthony Kofi rounded things up in the 74th minute to give Rospak a 3-0 win over former Premier League side King Faisal.
Elsewhere at Swedru – leaders Swedru All Blacks humbled PAC Academy in an emphatic 2-0 win. Zayat Bubakari scored first for Swedru All Blacks in the 27th minute before Rudolf Junior Nana Kwasi Mensah made it 2-0 in the 34th minute. Swedru All Blacks are top of the table with 36 points – 4 points ahead of second placed Rospak FC.
Meanwhile, Former Premier League side Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs recorded their fourth successive home victory after beaten New Edubiase United 2-1 at the Robert Mensah Park. Enoch Odoom struck first for Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs in the 19th minute but Steven Asante equalized for New Edubiase United before halftime. After the interval, Godfred Eshun scored from distance in the 65th minute to help Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs secure all the points.
Here are the results in Zone Two
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Cervical Cancer alert: Avoid sex at early age
The Programmes Manager of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Mary Efua Commeh, has advised young girls to avoid sex at an early age.
This, she explained, will give the cervix the opportunity to mature before they become sexually active.
“You need to delay what we call the first sexual intercourse as much as possible to give the cervix the opportunity to mature before the person becomes sexually active,” she said.
Dr Commeh stated this in an interview with The Spectator in Accra on Tuesday as a part of the Cervical Cancer awareness month.
According to her, cervical cancer was the second leading female cancer in Ghana with a total of about 3,072 cases annually, and out of that, 1,815 deaths are recorded, representing more than 50 per cent.
She indicated that “If young girls are going to be sexually active, then you need to talk to your parents about being vaccinated.”
She explained that vaccinating young girls against human papillomavirus (HPV) has been found to be a very effective way of preventing cervical cancer.
“There are countries that started HPV vaccination years ago and they are not seeing any cervical cancers now because they would have eliminated most of the high-risk HPVs in their women. So if the high-risk HPV is not there, then obviously the results on cervical cancers are going to go down,” she added.
Dr Commmey said the HPV vaccination is recommended for young girls aged nine to 14 years, adding that it had been found to be highly effective, not just for cervical cancers but for other HPV-related cancers, such as anal cancers, cancers of the vagina, genital warts, amongst others.
She further elaborated that the idea is to put up a barrier before the HPV comes in and that once a young female encounters it, she is already protected.
She also mentioned that for cervical cancers, the main cause is called HPV infection, saying generally, all sexually active women acquire HPV at some point in their lives.
However, the Programmes Manager of NCDs at the GHS mentioned that the body has a way of clearing the HPV, explaining that it is a natural mechanism that goes on, unfortunately, there are a few women whose HPV persists.
Moreover, she noted that the numbers for Cervical Cancer tend to be much higher because at times, clients would wait, and try all sorts of medications before they finally report to the health facility saying “we actually lose some women before they get to the hospitals with over 75 per cent of the cases coming in its third and fourth stages.”
Dr Commey, therefore, called for public awareness while ensuring the availability of information for prevention and control.
By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu
