Government committed to defending the country from terrorists, says the Defense Minister

The Minister of Defense, Dominic Nitiwul, has stated that the government is committed to defending citizens from the threat of terrorism.

He agreed that there were legitimate terrorist threats in the nation, on which the minister claimed that much work was being done, particularly in the country’s northern region, which borders various Sahelian nations.

According to Mr. Nitiwul, numerous troops have been stationed in the region to protect the nation from terrorist threats.

Following the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom (UK), James Cleverly, witnessing a demonstration by Ghanaian soldiers trained in the UK on counterterrorism as part of a defense partnership between the two countries, the minister made this statement during his interaction with journalists. Government

The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, the Minister of National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah, and a few army chiefs were all in attendance.

Since the visit of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in 2019, Mr. Cleverly’s trip to Ghana marks the second time a foreign secretary has made the country.

More of these training exercises are needed, Mr. Nitiwul said, “so that we can continue to protect our citizens”.

However, he asserted that even if the military was ready to combat terrorist attacks, it still needed public support because, “Once you have the support of the people, the military would do anything and everything for you.”

The minister described the partnership with the UK as significant, saying “I think it is a good thing that we get more of such support from around the world”.

On whether Ghana would send troops to Niger, as part of an ECOWAS mission to that country after a one-week ultimatum by the sub-regional body to the coup makers to return Niger to constitutional rule expired, he said: “After the one-week, we would seek the direction of the President on the way forward.

But I can say that the member states are ready if it means using force”.

“We would wait for the direction of the Commanders-in-Chief of the various Armed Forces and if the decision is to use force, member countries would contribute troops to do that,” Mr Nitiwul added.

No nation should recognize that the days of overthrowing governments through the use of force are ended, he claimed.

And neither today nor tomorrow should we allow that to happen in our country.

The armed forces of Ghana are above taking up arms to overthrow the government, the minister added.

Commendation

The soldiers received praise from Mr. Cleverly for their professionalism throughout the demonstration exercise.

In order to increase the ability of the armed forces to protect the country’s security, he vowed that his nation will continue to provide more training exercises of this nature.

Earlier, Ms. Thompson accompanied Mr. Cleverly on a visit to the plastic recycling business Trashy Bags Africa in the Accra suburb of Abelemkpe.

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