The National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons is mounting pressure for the swift passage of a long-overdue firearms control law, citing the urgent need to update the country’s outdated legal framework that is over five decades old.
Earlier reports by the Commission indicate that the number of small arms in circulation surged from 240,000 in 2004 to 2.3 million by 2014, which is the last time a baseline assessment was conducted.
Of the 2.3 million weapons, only about 1.2 million were legally acquired or registered.
The Commission’s Executive Secretary, Dr Adam Adamu Alhassan Bonaa, said the current laws governing arms dealership and regulation in Ghana are obsolete and ill-equipped to tackle the growing threats posed by modern arms trafficking, including the rise of 3D-printed weapons and online arms transactions.
Speaking at the closing session of a five-day international workshop on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in Accra, the Executive Secretary revealed that a draft firearms bill, under development for the past eight years, is expected to be laid before Parliament this year.
“The constitution itself is about 32 years old and under review, but the law guiding firearms is over 50 years old. We cannot be dealing with advanced threats using outdated laws,” he stated.
He warned that Ghana’s inability to pass a modern firearms law undermines efforts to control arms diversion, fake end-user certificates, and unauthorised brokerage challenges that continue to fuel insecurity in parts of West Africa.
The passage of the new law, the Commission believes, will not only strengthen Ghana’s compliance with international treaties but also help the country reinforce its reputation as an “oasis of peace” in a volatile sub-region.
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