The North Tongu Member of Parliament says government’s plan to issue national ID cards to all the citizens holds the solution to the weaknesses in the country's passport system.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said Ghana’s main registry – birth and death and passport system – are riddled with loopholes that are constantly being exploited by criminals.
The lawmaker told Evans Mensah on Joy FM’s Top Story Tuesday, until the government’s national ID initiative is carried out, some foreigners will continue to take advantage of the system.
“That is why the work the current government is doing ought to be supported so far as the issuing of the national ID is concerned,” Mr Ablakwa said.
Billionaire kidnap kingpin, Chikwudubem Onwuamadike
The lawmaker was reacting to the arrest of billionaire kidnapper, Chikwudubem Onwuamadike by Nigeria police last week.
Mr Onwuamadike popularly known as Evans is reported to be a notorious kidnapper who charges from $1 million to $6 million ransom from the families of his victims.
The Nigerian was arrested on June 10, 2017 at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport while checking out of the country.
About 1,282 AK47 assault rifles were found at his residence in Lagos.
Inspector General of the Nigeria Police Service, Ibrahim Kpotun
Inspector General of the Nigeria Police Service, Ibrahim Kpotun said the kidnaper has a Ghanaian passport.
“Nigerians are celebrating the arrest of the Nigerian/Ghanaian,” the police boss said at the West Africa National Security Conference at Kempinski Hotel in Accra.
“His family is based in Ghana here,” Mr Kpotun said, adding the man has properties in Ghana. He promised to discuss the details of the kidnapper's operation with his counterpart in Ghana.
Executive Director of the West African Network for Peace (WANEP), Chukwu Emeka said the development is one of the setbacks to ECOWAS’ integration process.
“[The leaders] want us to dismantle the wall of the region so that we live the dreams of the founding fathers of ECOWAS but unfortunately these kind of crimes come in between the process,” he said.
He believes a sub-regional approach to security will eliminate the things that could undermine the spirit of the integration process.
Mr Ablakwa who is the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee wants governments of the sub-region to implement ECOWAS’ biometric database.
He said this will bolster data sharing among securities operatives in the sub-region and help to arrest notorious criminals without difficulty.
The lawmaker has called on national security operatives to act swiftly on the lead given by the Nigeria IGP to quickly arrest accomplices of the billionaire kidnapper.
"For now it is a case to do more with kidnapping and those loopholes could be used by terrorists [so] the loopholes has to be identified and closed so that other terrorists will not exploit that," he said.
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