A total of 88 incidents were recorded in the country in the month of October this year, of which there were 98 reported deaths and 167 reported injuries, the Institute for Peace and Governance (IPEG), a think-tank, has said.
It said “Of the 98 reported deaths, 36 were related to disasters, 35 were related to road accidents, 17 were murder or suicide related cases and five were related to armed robbery or armed attacks. The remaining five deaths came from health and youth related violence”.
The incidents were duly identified based on quantitative figures recorded from reported stories in the media.
This was contained in a statement dubbed: “State of the Security in Ghana, October 2019” issued by IPEG in Tamale on Thursday and signed by its Programme Director, Mr Justin Bayor, and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Tamale.
The statement said “In terms of reported injuries, road accidents alone accounted for 106 injuries, while disasters accounted for 30 injuries and 19 were related to armed robbery/armed attacks. Other injuries recorded included politically-motivated violence, nine, murder, two and youth related violence, one”.
It said “Greater Accra Region (GAR) is the most volatile region with 20 reported incidents, followed by Eastern Region, a previously docile region, with 18 incidents and Ashanti Region with 14 reported cases”.
“With regard to the most frequent security threats, violence against children recorded the most recurrent incidents with 17 cases, murder or suicide recorded 16 incidents, disaster recorded 13 reported cases and road accidents recorded 12 reported incidents”, it added.
The statement said “In terms of violence against children, GAR recorded eight incidents, followed by Eastern and Ashanti Regions with three incidents each. Although no deaths were recorded under this incident indicator, 14 of the incidents were related to defilement, one of which involved a police officer and another involved a father defiling his own daughter”.
On murder and suicide, it said the Ashanti Region recorded four incidents followed by the GAR and Eastern Regions with three incidents each. There were 17 deaths related to murder or suicide, in which one incident involved two suicide persons in the Volta region”.
On disaster, it said “the Eastern Region recorded three incidents, while GM, Central and Ashanti Regions recorded two incidents respectively from a total of 13 incidents. Ten disaster incidents were related to floods while three were related to fire outbreaks”.
It said “There were 36 deaths and 30 injuries resulting from disasters with about 2000 people displaced. The Upper East Region alone recorded about 27 deaths, 19 injuries and over 600 displacements resulting from disasters. Two of the disaster related deaths involved two six year olds, who died in separate incidents”.
Under the prevailing circumstances, IPEG appealed to government to use its various agencies to deal with issues concerning violence against children as it had the potential to severely damage the future of children in the country, thereby threatening to derail the gains of free senior high school.
It further appealed to government “To critically look through the appropriate agencies, into the likely causes of high incidents of murders and suicides in the country as there may be a likely direct link between these and dissatisfaction in society”.
It also appealed to the law enforcement bodies such as the police to increase their security patrols and strictly enforce the laws, especially along the highways to reduce accidents.
It called on “Government, in the face of recent job losses and attendant bank closures, to establish social programmes to cushion victims”.
GNA