Editorial : Our porous borders conundrum must be addressed

Mr Elliot Edem Agbenorwu, Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Ketu South, is quoted by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) as saying that the border closure, occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, has exposed the porous nature of Ghana’s land frontiers, particularly that of Ghana-Togo.

“The border closure has exposed us as a country, in the sense that we’re not in control of our borders, which means any external insurgence will land us in trouble. Borders were ever closed, but this life-threatening COVID-19 disease made us to keenly monitor our borders to detect how porous they are, and how foreign nationals can easily move in and out at the blind side of our security agencies.

“Neighbouring Togo, on their part, did well to dig trenches, construct feeder roads from Aflao to Sege, allowing their security to patrol, and there’s also the barbed wire (which they open at will), all aimed at protecting their land borders. But, on the Ghana side, no road, no buffer and no telecommunications service,” Mr Agbenorwu lamented.

The porous nature of our land borders is not news to Ghanaians. The problem has existed since Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s days up to date without any solution being found to it. Until the Europeans sat in Berlin, Germany, and partitioned the Continent of Africa, the people were living together as one people. It is, therefore, not surprising that from Aflao to Paga, Paga to Hamile, Hamile to Elubo, the people living along these corridors criss-cross the borders without any restriction because they have their families and friends living on each side of the borders.

But, much as The Chronicle is not calling for the restriction of movements across the borders, we think the time has come for us to put measures in place to secure the borders in the interest of national security. Ghana’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Victor Gbeho, some years back, told one of our television stations during an interview that the Eyadema government in Togo acquired modern weapons because of the fear that the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) government would attack them.

The revelation that has been made by the Ketu South MCE – that Togo has dug trenches, construct feeder roads from Aflao to Sege, allowing their security to patrol the borders – has not come as a surprise to The Chronicle.

Because of the proximity of the border to their capital, Lome, Togo is always alert when it comes to security matters. It is, therefore, not a surprise that they have taken steps to secure their border, whilst Ghana, on her part, has relaxed. Since the people living along all our land borders speak the same language, like their counterparts in countries they share borders with, the issue of inter border war is remote.

But in this era, where terrorism has become the order of the day, the possibility of terrorists exploiting this situation to their advantage cannot be ruled out.  This is one of the reasons why, in our view, the borders must be properly secured. Anyone who has used one of the unapproved routes to Togo will confirm that though these routes are illegal, the Togolese always have an armed soldiers sitting at their side watching the movement of the people without any harassment though.

Unfortunately, this cannot be seen on the Ghana side, even though an armed soldier sitting at one of these routes would be enough to scare away anyone who wants to enter the country to cause trouble. It is the hope of The Chronicle that the government would look at the issue raised by the MCE, and see how best Ghana can also secure its borders without necessarily impeding the free movement of the people, since, as we have already alluded to, they are the same people living across the borders.

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