He said governing well was therefore critical to avoiding signals with the potential to create internal conflict or even give room to external extremists.

The Former National Security Coordinator said, “you must govern well to avoid conflict and ensure that justice prevailed at all times for all and sundry in the social and economic ladder to guard our territorial integrity”.

Mr Poku said this on the sidelines of a Regional Meeting with the Youth on Trending Conflict Issues in the Western Region by the Catholic Bishops Conference under the Sahel Peace Initiative in Ghana.

He said Ghana currently, faced an imminent risk of violent extremism spill over from the Sahel as it shared borders with Burkina Faso, Togo and Côte d’Ivoire remained porous.

The risk of violent extremist attacks spilling over from neighbouring countries was therefore high with parts of the country currently experiencing localized communal, chieftaincy, land, and intra-religious conflicts.

Mr. Poku said the possibility of these conflicts potentially being exploited by violent extremists was also high with symptoms of increasing radicalization within Ghana, precipitated by attempts of recruitment of Ghanaian youth into global terrorist networks such as Daesh and ISIS in Libya and Syria, respectively.

The Former National Security Coordinator said such trends called for intelligence and meticulous governance architecture that uphold the sanctity of the constitution and work for the people to avoid social insecurity.

He mentioned that unemployment, drugs, and alcoholism also fuel violent extremist activities and prayed that pragmatic policies were put in place to occupy the Ghanaian youth…”Ours is a society of mercy so deliberate policies are urgently needed to engender trust in state apparatus to avoid conflict”.

He recalled perilous times in the sociopolitical history of the country and the need to jealously guard the current peace and tranquility prevailing in the country with the right attitude, commitment, and upholding of the sanctity of the 1992 Constitution.

The Former National Security Coordinator also advised Ghanaians to have hope and not be empathetic to the course of the country.

He said, “Insecurity in the country is the fact we are all looking away, pretending nothing concerns us but looking away situations are not actually good for our development also”.

Mr. Poku thus entreated the citizenry to stay active in the governance space, report suspicious characters to the security for investigation, “we need to enforce the see something, say something to the letter.”