A startling revelation from the 2024 Auditor-General’s report has exposed significant security concerns at Ghana’s airports, documenting the interception of over 2,000 guns and ammunition from passengers in the year 2023 alone.
The findings prompted intense scrutiny today as officials from the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) appeared before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Vice Chairman of the PAC, Samuel Atta-Mills, cited the audit, which flagged an “increasing number of weapons and ammunition carried by passengers”.
Reading from the report, he highlighted a critical paragraph noting that while all intercepted cases were referred to the National Investigation Bureau (NIB), “the passengers were allowed to board their flights due to the absence of a policy on passengers carrying weapons.”
“Does it mean that they allow them to board the plane with their weapons?” Atta-Mills questioned, characterising the situation as “really serious”.
The GACL officials, in their response, clarified past and current procedures. They explained that previously, when a passenger was found with a weapon, it was separated and stored in a different part of the airport until the passenger’s flight departed.
However, they asserted that new, direct instructions are now in place to govern such situations.
Under persistent questioning from Samuel Atta-Mills, the current protocol was detailed: Any passenger carrying a weapon must declare it to the Aviation Security Department. If the weapon is properly licensed, the passenger may travel with it. If it is unlicensed, it is confiscated and handed to the NIB.
The officials stated that even a licensed weapon will be confiscated if the passenger fails to declare it upon arrival at the airport.
The audit finding points to a potential vulnerability that may have existed due to a lack of a formal, standardised policy.
In the end, Samuel Atta-Mills indicated that his questions were geared towards raising awareness on the existing policy regarding weapons.
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