Security Analyst, Adam Bonaa
• Ghana has been elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2022-2023 term
• Security Analyst, Adam Bonaa believes this development reflects the nation’s good international standing
• He however notes that it reinforces the need for Ghana to address issues including internal security and tooling the security agencies
Security analyst, Adam Bonaa has described Ghana’s recent election as a non-permanent member of the United Nation’s Security Council as a direct reflection of the country’s status in the eyes of the world.
Ghana, Albania, Gabon Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were elected by the 75th session of the UN General Assembly to serve as non-permanent members of the top global Security body.
Reacting to this development in an interview with GhanaWeb, Adam Bonaa noted that Ghana’s election confirms the nation’s ability and capacity to contribute to solving security challenges on the African continent and across the globe.
“If you look at the whole of West Africa; you can name from Togo to Mali, you can name from Nigeria to Sierra Leone. Most of these countries have had security challenges here and there and so largely have faced serious security issues. But we really, since probably the birth of the country from Gold Coast to Ghana, have not had any civil strife. Apart from ethnic conflicts we have not had any civil war so it is another plus for this country in the eyes of the international community,” he said.
On what played to Ghana’s advantage, Mr Bonaa noted that the nation’s democratic credentials coupled with the leadership of the country and their ability to lobby largely impacted Ghana’s chances.
“If you compare our democratic credentials to our neighbors, you will realize that largely in most of these countries, the judiciary does not work, the legislative arm of the government is inactive and it goes on and on.
“Our ability to lobby is another thing because at the UN level a lot of things are discussed behind closed doors so those you put in charge to do that should be people who must be respected and must also be people who will not be biased especially if you look at the recent conflict in Burkina Faso and other places. Also, when you look at our President, he is currently chairing the ECOWAS. All these things played to our advantage,” he stated.
He further noted that a key advantage of being on the Council will be the shoring up of investor confidence.
“We are also going to attract significant amount of intelligence sharing when it comes to the international community. They are going to place a lot of emphasis and they are going to depend on us to fight terrorism internationally. It means that we are counted in the way things are done internationally both in business and in security.”
The need to enhance address and internal security
Adam Bonaa however noted that in order to take full advantage of the opportunity, government needs to address issues affecting internal security and ensure the effective operation of security agencies through the provision of needed resources.
“Our internal security issues would have to be looked at. Ghana is not in a state of insecurity, we have security challenges where you have criminals stealing, shooting and killing people. These are issues that we need to look at internally.
“But when it comes to terrorism, we seem to not be doing bad even though it is not all clear yet. We also need to look at how to tool the security agencies. It brings a lot of pressure on us to tool our security services,” he added.