Accra, Nov. 22, - Commissioner of Police George Asiamah (rtd),
Director Counter Terrorism, Ministry of National Security, has announced a
multi-agency simulation exercise codenamed: ‘’Exercise Home Shield’’, to
counter terrorism.
Speaking on Tuesday at a news
conference held in Accra, he said the simulation exercise is to mimic real life
professional scenarios for an objective assessment of capabilities of counter
terrorism response agencies.
“’In a nutshell it is a form of
rehearsal to sharpen our capability to respond to terrorist attacks and recover
from it.
“It is an Exercise which seeks to
ensure that appropriate Command and Control arrangements are in place, problems
and shortcomings identified and corrected in advance and for different
organisations to become accustomed to working together. It will also improve
interoperability of emergency services and security agencies’’, he said.
In this regard, COP Asiamah (rtd)
said, they would put in place a crisis communication team comprising of the
Military, Police, National Ambulance Service, Fire Service, Ghana Health
Service, Prison Service, Information Services Department, NADMO, and Ghana
Immigration Service.
He said these are public relation
officers from the security services who have been assigned to coordinate media
activities throughout the exercise.
COP Asiamah (rtd) said terrorism
is a serious security threat to international peace and security and a global
menace which requires both national and international counter measures.
He said the threat posed by
terrorist networks, organisations and individuals has assumed dramatic shifts
in its methodology and modus operandi.
COP Asiamah (rtd) said a
phenomenon that was considered to be isolated vicious crimes has now assumed new
and alarming proportions with devastating consequences.
He said a key manifestation of
contemporary terrorism in West Africa has been its transnational nature whereby
an attack executed in one location may be premeditated in another with human
and material resources from multiple other locations.
COP Asiamah (rtd) said Ghana was
not an exception to the increasing threat of terrorism, adding that while Ghana
has not directly experienced attack on its home soil, regional, global trends
and recent incidents in neighbouring states gives serious cause for concern.
“As Ghanaians we take pride in
our strong communal value systems which are rooted in the extended family
structure and traditional local cultures.
“Building a resilient Ghanaian
society to tackle terrorism demands the use of our shared values embedded in
our customs and traditions.
“We are going to embark on a very
serious measure of building resilience through the development of intellectual
and human capital needs of all actors at the centre of the fight against
terrorism. We need to build and sustain a community of counter terrorism
professionals through multi-disciplinary training and refresher courses
periodically to sustain our alertness.
“We have started public education
and awareness programme which would be rolled out soon”, he said.
GNA
Caption Pictures attached
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