Small arms proliferation and regional security in West Africa: The Ghanaian case

By: Emmanuel Addo Sowatey, Researcher at the African Security Dialogue and Research, Accra, Ghana.

The illicit proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in West Africa is a topical issue among governments, civil society, and the international community. Ghana is no exception. This article seeks to undertake cultural analyses of gun manufacturing in Ghana, and also suggest ways to efficiently tackle the challenges posed by the trade. To achieve this aim, a holistic four part structure has been employed to guide this discussion. The discussion opens with a brief description of the genesis of indigenous craft production. This is followed by a critique of the legislative regime underpinning gun production in Ghana. The penultimate section discusses the cultural and political economy of the trade. The article concludes by suggesting the way forward.

Indigenous craft production
Indigenous craft production in Ghana dates back to before the 15th century when the Europeans first arrived on the then Gold Coast (modern day Ghana). At this time, there were local artisans in iron-smithing (popularly known as blacksmiths), pottery, cloths, weaving, salt extraction, mining, and bead making among others. In recent years, their production techniques have seen only slight modification. In relation to iron working, Oppong (1973) argues that an iron specialist in former times produced weapons such as knives, arrowheads, spears and later guns and bullets for chiefs among certain ethnic groups like the Dagombas of northern Ghana. This phenomenon is not unique to the northern part of the country. In other parts of the country, iron-smithing thrived with the support of powerful rulers who needed iron specialists to make guns and other peaceful tools like agricultural implements for their socio-economic needs. Agbodeka (1992) posits that iron working was widespread because, apart from iron specialists, other professional artisans like hunters were expected to learn aspects of iron-smithing. This was to help them repair their rifles and also prepare their own cartridges and cutlasses for hunting. Since colonialism, however, local gun production has been banned. The reason from the colonialist perspective could have been that the colonialists did not want guns to be in the hands of the colonised since that could hasten the demise of their reign. Measures where therefore put in place to try to stifle the trade. The ban has been carried over into the post-colonial era.

Law and regulations
The Arms and Ammunition Act 1962 (Act 118) as amended by the Arms and Ammunition Decree 1972 (NRCD 9) and the Arms and Ammunition (Amendment Act 1996) prohibit both the manufacture and assembly of firearms. On the other hand, these laws legalise the repair of guns after a licence has been acquired. The upshot of this legislation is that, local artisans have over the years acquired more skills through the various repair jobs that they undertake on guns. This cognitive process of acquiring more skills has resulted in a number of the artisans acquiring the skills to manufacture not only single barrel gun, but also sophisticated guns such as pump action guns, and self-loading rifles. A number of the artisans have indicated their capacity to produce AK47 assault rifles once the guns are dismantled and their various components studied. So professional is their handiwork that pundits will find it difficult to differentiate an imported single barrel gun from a locally manufactured one. Paradoxically, guns cannot be legally manufactured. This has driven the trade underground with no official statistics on (a) the number of gun manufacturers in Ghana. (There is however, the Ashanti Regional Association of Blacksmiths, the members of which have the capacity to produce guns. African Security Dialogue and Research and, particularly, Dr Emmanuel Aning and myself continuously play a key role in assisting the association. The creation of this association was a collaboration between the African Security Dialogue and Research and the blacksmiths.); (b) the numbers of guns produced per annum; (c) who the clients are; and lastly (d) how to mark and trace these increasingly sophisticated weapons.

To further comprehend the state of local gun production in Ghana, it is important to also understand the cultural as well as the political economy that underpins local gun production and why the trade has survived despite the ban.

The cultural and political economy of the trade
Among a substantial number of ethnic groups in Ghana, for instance, the Akan, Dagomba and Gonja ethnic groups, who are spread mainly in the central and northern parts of the country respectively, owning a gun is a sign of accession to manhood. Among the Gonja ethnic group for example, a gun is fired whenever a male child is born. During most festivals in Ghana and at the funerals of prominent people, guns are fired as part of the occasion.

In addition, most farmers buy guns for hunting and guarding their farms against birds and other animals. Given the fact that about 55 percent of Ghanaians are employed in the agricultural sector, the demand for guns for agricultural purposes is high. As a result, people buy locally manufactured guns that are durable as well as affordable, and which can be paid for over a period of time unlike the imported ones that have to be paid for upfront. In other words, guns are made for people who are known to the artisans or who have been introduced to them by trusted people in the society. Thus, the cultural dimension of guns has meant that societies see local gun producers as their relatives and friends who are championing the cause of their tradition and culture. These are associational networks that cocoon the manufacturers from the security agencies. This is a major reason for the survival of the trade despite its illegality. Even more important is the fact that these gun manufacturers have the skill to produce peaceful tools such as agricultural implements and parts for lorries and trucks. This makes them indispensable in the countryside where they operate.

Increasingly, also, criminal networks and sub-state actors in the sub-region are demanding made-in-Ghana guns. This is because the exchange rate makes it cheaper for people from Togo, the Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso (Ghana’s immediate neighbours to the east, west, and north respectively) to purchase good quality guns in Ghana. The transactional nature of the problem is further made easy by the extreme porosity of Ghana’s borders. This is especially the case during the dry season when the major rivers shrink and the vegetation is burnt by bushfires making large tracts of land easily accessible for trans-border crossing. Added to this is the fact that some of the security agencies personally purchase these guns for private use whilst others sympathise with the cultural role of these weapons within their society. The ready market for guns, as against peaceful tools, becomes a further incentive for some gun manufacturers to produce guns for criminal networks and sub-state actors in the sub-region. With the increasing cost of living (high school fees, expensive health care, rising price of petrol and falling prices of export crops) it is difficult for most gun manufacturers to stop their production, more so, when the peaceful tools they produce do not have a ready market. It is important to emphasise that most gun manufacturers are illiterates or at best have very basic education. Consequently, their only source of livelihood is their trade since their level of education strictly restricts their employment opportunities.

A combination of the above factors has converged to help the trade withstand the ban.

Political economy of the trade
In terms of cost, one could purchase a locally manufactured pistol for less then five USD (with about three USD cost of production) and a single barrel gun for about 80 USD (with about ten USD cost of production). On the average, a local artisan can produce two or three pistols in a day and a single barrel gun in three to four days. It is interesting that these artisans do not use sophisticated machinery to produce the guns. The basic things they need to produce guns are a pair of bellows to fan the fire, a hammer, and an iron pipe. This makes it easy for the artisans to outwit the security agencies by producing guns in their rooms, in forests, farms and many other secluded places. There are also occasions when some manufacturers have been invited by groups with hidden identity in Côte d’lvoire to produce guns in that country. This is another way that criminal networks adapt to outwit the security agencies. Given the volatile situation in that country, one can only imagine the group(s) that the guns would have been produced for. What is the way forward?

Lessons learned and the way forward
The use of locally made guns by criminal networks and feuding parties in conflicts in Ghana has been increasing since the closing years of the 20th century. On a number of occasions these guns have ended up in the hands of sub-state actors in the West African sub-region with absolutely no official records for tracing them. In addition, more sophisticated guns are increasingly being produced in the country. For instance, in just two (out of the ten) regions in Ghana, there are over 6,000 people with the skill to manufacture guns. Currently, the prognosis is that about 100,000 guns are produced annually in Ghana. This is a country of about 18 million people, centrally located in the West African sub-region with a total land area of about 238,539 square kilometres. As a way of dealing with the problem of local arms manufacture, two mutually reinforcing options are available for debate among Ghanaians and more importantly ECOWAS states. These are: (a) the legalisation of gun production as a way of marking and tracing; and (b) diverting the gun making skills of the producers to the production of peaceful tools, that the artisans already have the capacity to produce. The issue of illicit proliferation and misuse of Small Arms and Light Weapons can only be addressed through the strengthening of the ECOWAS Moratorium on the Importation Exportation and Manufacture of Small Arms and Light Weapons in West Africa. It is up to the major role players in Ghana (and indeed West Africa) to conduct a dialogue on the impact of locally manufactured guns on the rule of law, democracy and the whole issue of human security .

Selected reading
Adedeji, Ebo with Laural Mazal, Small Arms Control in West Africa. UK: Global Facilitation Network For Security Sector Reform, 2003. Available at www.international-alert.org/pdf/pubsec/MISAC_west_africa_english.pdf

Agbodeka, Francis, An Economic History of Ghana: From Earliest Times. Accra: Ghana Universities Press, 1992.

Aning, Kwesi, “Local Craft Production and Legislation”. In West Africa, 7–13 July 2003.

Oppong, Christine, Growing Up in Dagbon. Accra: Ghana Publishing Press, 1973.