Mohammed, Zulkarnain and Abubakar, Mohamad Zaini
(2017)
Preventing Terrorism among Ghanaian Muslim Youth: Realities and Challenges.
In:
Social Sciences Postgraduate International Seminar (SSPIS) 2017.
School of Social Sciences, USM, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia, pp. 51-60.
ISBN 9789671544013
Abstract
Although extremism is an old phenomenon, the pursuit to find measures to combat it reached an
upsurge after the major attacks in many European countries and America, leading many
countries and the international community to take severe measures to prevent this menace. Over
the past couple of decades, Ghana has won a hard-earned reputation as a stable and settled
product of democracy. Despite these efforts, the African continent is plagued in recent times with
Muslim radicals and terrorists 19 activities from some militant groups such as the AQIM, Boko
Haram, Ansar Dine and MUJAO. While Ghana has been far from being victims of any such
attacks and consequently recorded no valid cases about Ghanaian Muslim youth involvement in
such acts; Ghana 19s location in the West African region renders the country 19s youth more
vulnerable to terrorist recruitment. This concept paper therefore assesses the possibility of
Ghana 19s Muslim youth becoming a target of terrorist recruitment and possibly launching attacks
or serving some major terrorist group across the region. It also examines some of the challenges
faced by Muslim religious leaders in fighting against extremism and radicalization. Analyses of
secondary data revealed that, there are no Muslims terrorist cells currently operating in Ghana.
However, certain conditions prevailing in the country heighten the possibility of becoming a target
of terrorism or a safe haven for terrorist groups. The analyses further proved that, Ghana has put
in place measures such as legislations and institutions to ensure that any terrorist attempt at the
country is averted. The paper finally offered some recommendations for policy consideration
which include among others, granting a semi-autonomous status to some local Islamic
organizations to work hand-in-hand with governmental institutions to alleviate any threats from
Ghanaian Muslim youth extremists.
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