October 09, 2015•Update: October 10, 2015
by Umaru Sanda Amadu & Hatice Kesgin
ACCRA, Ghana
Daesh has agents in Ghana to recruit fighters, one of the country’s ministers has claimed.
Ghana's deputy education minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said the country’s national security agency had briefed the government that Daesh recruiters were targeting universities.
Ablakwa was addressing an audience of Ghanaian Muslims at an event in Accra, Thursday.
Official Ghanian data claim Muslims make up about 18 percent of the West African country’s population.
Ablakwa said: "National Security sent us a detailed brief about some developments in our institutions and on our campuses where ISIL [Daesh] appears to have found agents in Ghana and they are targeting our tertiary institutions."
The announcement comes two months after news that two Ghanaian men had been recruited by the group.
Information from the West African nation's security agencies revealed that a 25-year-old graduate of Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and one other person, had joined the group.
“It’s a shame that we have already lost two students," Ablakwa said.
"National security is collaborating with their international partners to see if we will get these students back.
"The suspicion is that they are around Lebanon, heading to Syria, but it is important for us to safeguard those we have left here,” Ablakwa added.
He said the government hoped that a newly launched fund for Muslim students to support their education and demotivate them from Daesh radicalization.
"We want to appeal to you … let’s begin a conversation on how we can work with the managers of our institutions", the education official said.
Ghana’s National Security Coordinator was quoted as saying the group used financial offers to charm potential recruits.
Security officials have started to discuss the ongoing problem that appears to be a trend in the West African country.
