A High court judge, Justice Constant Kwaku Hometowu, has expressed concern about the reports alleging proliferation and possession of arms and ammunition by individuals in nation.
He stated that “Ghana is our only beloved country, we have nowhere to run to in times of war. This calls for a concerted effort in averting any disturbance in the nature of civil unrest, which
Justice Hometowu said this at a seminar organized by the Social Sciences Department of Akropong Presbyterian College of Education on the topic: “Wars, internal and external displacement of people and how they affect the spread of HIV/AIDS and other endemic diseases”.
Justice Hometowu remarked that if Rwandan genocide perpetrators relied mainly on machetes to massacre an estimated 800,000 people in just one hundred days, the potential of the huge stock pile of arms in this country is surely a recipe for disaster and therefore a worrying phenomenon.
The High Court Judge said access to healthcare, access to education, access to quality life, access to quality justice, all of which constitute fundamental human rights, are denied citizens of war-ravaged countries.
“These are natural consequences of war. It therefore means that wars must be avoided in the supreme interest of service to humanity, democracy and human rights,” he said adding that the 1992 Constitution of Ghana frowns upon degrading treatment to persons and upholds human rights not only of its citizens but of all humanity.
Justice Hometowu said this provision clearly runs counter to conditions that war imposes on citizens.
The seminar was chaired by Dr Alfred Appiah, Deputy Director Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine.
