News & Current Affairs
Hamile Blast Shows Need for Stronger Border Intelligence, Upper West Officials Say
At Wa consultations on a new National Security Strategy, officials cited the Hamile explosion and called for tighter border intelligence.
Officials in the Upper West Region have called for closer cooperation between security agencies, traditional leaders, civil society and communities, warning that the region’s security situation is becoming more complex, the Ghana News Agency reports.
The call came at a regional stakeholders’ meeting in Wa over the weekend, one of the nationwide consultations on the review of Ghana’s 2020 National Security Strategy.
Border pressures
Delivering a speech on behalf of the Regional Minister, Charles Lwanga Puozuing, the Regional Coordinating Director, Shaiku Mumuni Damma, said the region’s position along the border with Burkina Faso brought particular security challenges that required constant vigilance.
He pointed to the recent explosion at Hamile, which he said killed two civilians and an immigration officer, as evidence of the need for better border surveillance, intelligence gathering and information sharing. He also listed violent extremism, communal conflicts, drug abuse and organised crime among the threats the region must prepare for.
Mr Damma said national security could not be left to the security services alone, describing it as a shared responsibility for government, chiefs, religious bodies, civil society, the private sector, politicians and ordinary residents. He said he hoped the meeting would produce practical proposals to improve early warning and response.
A new strategy for 2026–2030
George Loh, Director of Legal and Compliance at the National Security Council Secretariat, said the 2020–2024 strategy needed to be updated to deal with newer threats such as misinformation, disinformation, cybercrime and the growing influence of social media.
He said security thinking had moved beyond the police and military towards a wider idea of human security, and that much useful intelligence comes from ordinary people in their communities. Views gathered from the consultations, he said, will feed into a new National Security Strategy for 2026 to 2030.
The Wa meeting follows a similar consultation in Tamale last week. Hamile, a key crossing point into Burkina Faso in the Lambussie District, was placed under curfew after the explosion earlier this month.
Source: Ghana News Agency — https://gna.org.gh/2026/11/upper-west-calls-for-stronger-collaboration-to-address-security-threats/
