The government has launched a nationwide exercise to destroy thousands of illegal firearms recovered during its recently concluded gun amnesty, signalling the start of stricter enforcement against unauthorised weapons.
The operation, led by the Ministry of the Interior together with the Ghana Police Service, began on Thursday, July 9, at the Ghana Police Training School in Accra, where more than 2,000 confiscated and voluntarily surrendered firearms were marked for destruction.
Authorities say the exercise follows an eight-week amnesty that encouraged individuals to hand over unlicensed firearms without facing prosecution. By the end of the initiative, over 4,000 weapons had been turned in to the state.
Addressing the ceremony, Chief of Staff Julius Debrah said the government had moved beyond the voluntary phase of the programme and would now focus on enforcing the country’s firearms laws.
“The conclusion of the Gun Amnesty Programme marked the end of a period of voluntary compliance. We have now entered a phase of full enforcement of the post-gun amnesty measures.”
He explained that destroying the recovered weapons would eliminate the risk of them returning to circulation through theft, diversion or criminal activity. He also pledged continued government support for intelligence-driven security operations aimed at locating and retrieving illegally held firearms across the country.
The Chief of Staff made it clear that the amnesty window is now closed, noting that individuals who continue to possess firearms without lawful authority risk arrest and prosecution as security agencies step up enforcement nationwide.
