Accra, June 26, GNA - The Speaker of Parliament, Ebenezer Sekyi Hughes on Monday underscored the importance of security management to Ghana's development, and called for a permanent rather than ad-hoc measures to manage security in the country.

"Security management is a key to Ghana's development and must therefore be managed on permanent basis rather than ad-hoc basis, as the State harnesses great efforts and resources for the achievement of maximum national security.

"This is indeed an important feature of good governance, which governments, particularly our government, must strive to achieve", he said.

Mr Sekyi Hughes was speaking at the opening of the Third Ghana Security Sector Governance and Management Course, being organized by the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC) at Teshie, near Accra.

He said managing security for national development involved traditional security issues such as sovereignty of a State and management of internal security conflict; the concept of human security; which involved political; economic; cultural; moral and social security strategies that revolved around basic necessities of life. Thus, he said, Ghanaians should welcome the idea of the creation of the newly established Ministry for National Security, because it is envisaged that the Ministry would harness national efforts for efficient and effective security and information management.

Mr Sekyi Hughes said that since the introduction of the Fourth Republican Constitution, Ghana had made strides in liberal democratic governance as compared to other developing countries, and was now recognized and ranked high by the international community for chalking continuous success since 1992.

He said the course had come at a time when both facilitators and participants would have the opportunity to discuss the achievements, shortcomings of Ghana's young democracy and the way forward towards achieving the highest standard of democratic governance in the country. Mr Sekyi Hughes said Parliament would continue to support subsequent courses with the view to enhancing its oversight responsibility over defence and security in general.

He said it was envisage that as democracy grew in Ghana, Parliament would in future introduce more specialized sub-committees in distinct areas like defence, intelligence and interior so as to effectively discuss issues of security in a more detailed and specialized manner as practised in most established democracies.

The three-week course, which brings together participants from the security agencies, some government agencies and recognizable bodies is aimed at facilitating the achievement of a more coordinated and integrative approach to addressing national security issues. It is also to sensitize the participants on the practice of effective planning, coordination and management of the security sector within a modern and wider context.

The course would provide the platform for open discussions on the issue and also for making recommendations with the view to ensuring socio-economic growth of the nation.

Major Gen. George Ayiku, Commandant of GAFCSC, implored the participants to pay attention to issues on human security because it had become a new measure of global security and a new agenda for global action.

He told them that human security should be advanced in the country through protecting and promoting human rights; the rule of law; democratic governance; culture of peace and peaceful resolution of conflicts.

The Commandant tasked the participants to employ innovative and creative approaches to address the sources of insecurity, remedy the symptoms and prevent the recurrence of threats that affected the daily lives of the people.

The United Kingdom (UK) and Ghana Governments are sponsoring the course in partnership with the British Military Advisory Training Team to Ghana, the Cranfield University, UK; the University of Ghana; Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration; Africa Security Dialogue and Research and the Ghana Armed Forces. YOAP/BDB