Information gathered by The Ghana Report suggests gross abuse of the emergency call centre number introduced for terrorist-related reports as prank calls race towards 20,000 within three days.
Checks at the Ministry of National Security revealed that the total prank calls had hit 19, 560 with only eight being valid reports as of 11:30 am on Thursday, 26 May 2022.
The trend has continued since the launch of the emergency number on Tuesday, 24 May 2022, with the ministry concerned that the development “has culminated in long call queues and delayed response to calls made to the centre”.
On the first day, 5,557 fake calls were recorded. It increased on the second day, with 7,907 prank calls registered on Wednesday.
Before noon on Thursday, the fake calls had reached 6,096 at the time of checking.
Authorities believe the situation could hamper the efforts of the ministry to receive timely reports and intelligence to act on suspicious terror-related activity, which needs to be relayed by the public to security agencies via the 999 hotline.
Despite the development, the ministry has assured the public of the activeness of the call centre and encouraged reporting of all suspicious persons and behaviour.
“We beseech all and sundry to desist from making prank calls to the centre as doing so undermines the ability of law enforcement agencies to effectively respond to actual crises,” a statement from the ministry said.
The problem with prank calls seems to extend to other agencies, as the National Ambulance Dispatch Centre and the Ghana National Fire Service have also reported similar challenges.
Call centre operators for the ambulance service have said that about 98 per cent of the over 500 calls they receive each day are from people who do not need any emergency services.
On the other hand, the Director of Public Affairs at the GNFS, Timothy Osafo-Affum, revealed that, on average, the two centres in Accra and Kumasi receive up to 24,000 prank calls a day.
He told Accra-based 3FM that the “prank calls are seasonal”.
Campaign against terrorism
The dedicated line was activated as part of a campaign, in line with the whole-of-society approach that underpins the National Security Strategy, aimed at encouraging citizens to report suspicious persons or activities to enable the State to respond effectively to the threat of terrorism and violent extremism.
There have been heightened efforts to deal with threats of terrorism following an attack in neighbouring Togo.
Aljazeera reported that in the early hours of 11 May 2022, about 60 attackers on motorcycles launched a “violent terrorist attack” on a military post in Kpinkankandi – near the border with Burkina Faso – killing eight Togolese soldiers and wounding 13, according to the Togolese government.
Security Minister General Damehame Yark said 15 of the attackers died.
Among other things, the ministry also advised the installation of CCTVs at designated public places.
The ministry intensified efforts to deal with the threats with the launch of the ‘See Something, Say Something’ three days ago.
Meanwhile, the Minister for National Security, Mr. Kan-Dapaah, has said the state security and intelligence agencies remained on high alert to contain any eventuality.
He emphasised that safeguarding the country’s security and stability remained a key priority for all state security and intelligence agencies.
“To that end, we will remain vigilant and will continue to work in strengthening our capacity to effectively mitigate all forms of these attacks,” he assured.
Additionally, the security enforcement agencies have been organising simulation exercises with important information being circulated on how to act during a terrorist attack.
The national security minister indicated that the support the government had from the Interior and Defence Committee of Parliament paved the way for the retooling of the security and intelligence agencies to deal with terrorism.
That, he said, was not to suggest that the security and intelligence agencies did not have sufficient equipment and tools at the time.
He added that there had been a deliberate effort to retool and add to the equipment that the country needed to ward off any security threat in recent times.
Apart from Burkina Faso, there had been attacks in Cote d’Ivoire, about seven attacks in Benin, and recently, one terrorist attack in Togo.
“So far, there has not been any attack in Ghana. It does not mean that the terrorists are not planning to attack. We believe they may be planning, and the best way to handle it is to ensure that we also do all that is necessary to contain the situation,” Mr Kan-Dapaah added.