Ghana introduces amnesty on regularizing unlicensed arms

Ghana has introduced an exercise to enhance, manage and control the proliferation of weapons ahead of the general election on December 7.

The month-long limited weapons amnesty exercise instituted by the Ministry of the Interior in collaboration with the Small Arms Commission is expected to offer all persons who desire to regularize the ownership of their small arms and the opportunity to voluntarily register their weapons without fear of being sanctioned.

The Interior Minister, Prosper Bani, told a press conference on Tuesday that beyond the 32-day amnesty period which begins on August 22, anyone found to be in possession of an illicit weapon would face the full rigors of the law.

In Ghana, it is unlawful to possess weapons without police license and offenders face a sentence of a minimum of 10 years.

It is estimated that there are 2.3 million weapons in civilian hands in Ghana, with only 1.2 million of that number having been registered.

The number of illegal firearms in wrong hands means that for Ghana's 27 million people, the ratio of illegal arms to the population is 1:25. Endit