Exploring hybrid security strategies in Ghana: State and private sector partnerships

ABSTRACT

Mounting security challenges in the Global South provoke scholarly discussions on multi-actor and multi-dimensional interventions, especially the role of private security organisations. Yet, while broadly revealing the growing influence of private security firms and/or anecdotes of periodic private-public security collaborations in contemporary security provision in developing countries, the related literature offers little discussion about the potential for sustained systemic partnerships between public and private security organisations to tackle contemporary security challenges. Contributing to the broader discourse on hybrid governance, this research examines the potential of private-public security operational collaborations and how they could address contemporary security dilemmas in Ghana. The article draws on semi-structured interviews with actors from private and public security sectors to demonstrate the potential of effective private-public security partnerships in the areas of intelligence gathering and logistical (re)enforcement; community education and operations; and surveillance. The data suggest that while private and public securities operate under different structures, codes, and conditions, the three areas present real possibilities for a hybrid security context, which could significantly reduce crime and general security concerns in the country.

KEYWORDS:

• Private security
• state security
• security partnership
• security actors
• Ghana

Acknowledgement

We would like to offer our sincerest thanks to the two anonymous reviewers for their quick and very helpful comments, which provide depth and quality to the paper. Special thanks is also owed the generous informants who readily provided the required responses to enable the completion of this paper. In particular, we are hugely indebted to Mr. Adib Sani, Foreign Policy and Security Analyst, for availing himself for follow-ups and providing more information beyond the basic requirements of the paper. Finally, we give enormous credit to Mr. David Bilijo, MPhil Political Science-KNUST, for his assistance during the data collection to phase of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Meagher, ‘The strength of weak states?’.

2 Jedidigah, et al., ‘Security Challenges in Ghana, the Imperatives of States Security Agencies’.

3 Abrahamsen and Williams, ‘Securing the city’.

4 Ibid.

5 Kempen, ‘Terrorism and crime threats to the hospitality industry Are you prepared?’.

6 Institute for Security Studies, ‘National crime stats’.

7 Burke, Kaijage, & John-Langba, ‘Media analysis of albino killings in Tanzania’.

8 Kempen, ‘Terrorism and crime threats to the hospitality industry Are you prepared?’; Abrahamsen and Williams, ‘Securing the city’.

9 Gaston, ‘Mercenarism’; Abrahamsen and Williams, ‘Securing the city’.

10 Burke, Kaijage, & John-Langba, ‘Media analysis of albino killings in Tanzania’.

11 Atuguba, ‘Policing in Ghana’.

12 Ibid.

13 Vince & Haward, ‘Hybrid governance of aquaculture’.

14 Adegboyega, ‘Analyzing the Evolution of Private Security Guards and their Limitations to Security Management in Nigeria’; Diphoorn & Grassiani, ‘“Surveillance of the surveillers”’.

15 Percy, ‘An Overview of the Industry and the Need for Regulation’; George & Kimber, ‘The History of Private Security and Its Impact on the Modern Security Sector’.

16 Irish, ‘Irish, ‘Policing for profit’; Minnaar, ‘Oversight and monitoring of non-state/private policing’.

17 Percy, ‘An Overview of the Industry and the Need for Regulation’.

18 George & Kimber, ‘The History of Private Security and Its Impact on the Modern Security Sector’.

19 Abrahamsen and Williams, ‘Securing the city’; Mkutu, ‘The Private Security Industry in Kenya’.

20 Abrahamsen and Williams, ‘Securing the city’.

21 Mkutu, ‘The Private Security Industry in Kenya’.

22 van Steden, ‘Theorising and illustrating the collaborative practices of plural policing’.

23 Hönke, Transnational companies and security governance.

24 Abrahamsen and Williams, ‘Securing the city’.

25 Berg, ‘Holding South Africa's private security industry accountable’; Diphoorn, ‘“Surveillance of the surveillers”’; Bakare & Aderinola, ‘The Nigeria Police and internal security management in Nigeria’.

26 Abrahamsen and Williams, ‘Securing the city’; Jedidigah, et al., ‘Security Challenges in Ghana, the Imperatives of States Security Agencies’.

27 Abudu, Nuhu, & Nkuah, ‘Bridging the security gap in Ghana: The role of private security actors’.

28 Ikuteyijo, ‘The challenges of community policing in Nigeria’.

29 Ibid.

30 van Steden & Sarre, ‘Research article the tragic quality of contract guards’; Gubler, ‘Public Choice Theory and the Private Securities Market’.

31 van Steden & Sarre, ‘Research article the tragic quality of contract guards’.

32 Abrahamsen and Williams, ‘Securing the city’.

33 Mkutu, ‘The Private Security Industry in Kenya’; Adegboyega, ‘Analyzing the Evolution of Private Security Guards and their Limitations to Security Management in Nigeria’.

34 Hoffmann et al., Protection and (in) security beyond state.

35 Hall Turbiville, ‘Outlaw private security firms’.

36 Burke, Kaijage, & John-Langba, ‘Media analysis of albino killings in Tanzania’.

37 Lemos & Agrawal, ‘Environmental governance’.

38 Kalesnykas, ‘Public-private security partnership’; Janković et al., ‘Relations between police and private security officers’.

39 Meagher, ‘Smuggling ideologies’.

40 Sotlar & Meško, ‘The relationship between the public and private security sectors in Slovenia’.

41 Ibid.

42 Lemos & Agrawal, ‘Environmental governance’.

43 Riddell, ‘Things fall apart again’.

44 Lemos & Agrawal, ‘Environmental governance’; Meagher, ‘Smuggling ideologies’.

45 Vince & Haward, ‘Hybrid governance of aquaculture’.

46 Shearing, ‘A nodal conception of governance’.

47 van Steden, ‘Theorising and illustrating the collaborative practices of plural policing’.

48 Meagher, ‘Smuggling ideologies’.

49 Bolkovac & Lynn, The whistleblower: Sex trafficking, military contractors, and one woman’s fight for justice.

50 van Steden & Sarre, ‘Research article the tragic quality of contract guards’; Gubler, ‘Public Choice Theory and the Private Securities Market’.

51 McKeon, ‘Are equity and sustainability a likely outcome when foxes and chickens share the same coop?’; Vervoort et al., ‘Linking multi-actor futures for food systems and environmental governance’.

52 Hönke & Müller, ‘Governing (in) security in a postcolonial world’; Aning & Axelrod, ‘Hybrid Security Provision in African Post-colonial Settings’.

53 Wrigley-Asante, ‘Determinants of perceived insecurity in a low-income neighborhood in Accra, Ghana’.

54 Baker, Multi-choice policing in Africa, 1.

55 See also Jedidigah, et al., ‘Security Challenges in Ghana, the Imperatives of States Security Agencies’.

56 Telephone interview with owner of private security, March, 2023.

57 Hönke, Transnational companies and security governance; Kuyper, Linnér, & Schroeder, ‘Non-state actors in hybrid global climate governance’; Paalo, ‘A systemic understanding of hybrid peace’.

58 Hönke & Müller, ‘Governing (in) security in a postcolonial world’; Aning & Axelrod, ‘Hybrid Security Provision in African Post-colonial Settings’.

59 Jedidigah, et al., ‘Security Challenges in Ghana, the Imperatives of States Security Agencies’.

60 Abudu, Nuhu, & Nkuah, ‘Bridging the security gap in Ghana: The role of private security actors’.

61 Ikuteyijo, ‘The challenges of community policing in Nigeria’.

62 Raleigh & Dowd, ‘Governance and conflict in the Sahel’s ‘ungoverned space’’; Hoffmann et al., Protection and (in) security beyond state.

63 Hemme, ‘Critical infrastructure protection’; Clark & Hakim, ‘Protecting critical infrastructure at the state, provincial, and local level’.

64 Interview with security expert, Accra, March 2023.

65 Interview with private security employee, Kumasi, February 20.

66 Modern Ghana, 5 August 2019. The 'missing Takoradi girls' issue involved three girls who were kidnapped in Takoradi (the western regional capital). This became a major security issue in the country in 2018. For about two years, the various state security bodies, including the police, BNI, and national security failed to provide reasonable evidence for prosecution. This brought the competence of the state security organisations into serious question, and especially the Ghana Police Service is yet to recover from the humiliation it suffered from the many inconsistencies in the police reports surrounding the matter.

67 Interview with private security employee, Kumasi, February, 2023.

68 Mkutu, ‘The Private Security Industry in Kenya’; Adegboyega, ‘Analyzing the Evolution of Private Security Guards and their Limitations to Security Management in Nigeria’.

69 Interview with owner of private security, Accra, March 2023.

70 Marfo, ‘Police launches Community Policing Strategy to ensure safer communities’.

71 See also van Steden & Sarre, ‘Research article the tragic quality of contract guards’; Gubler, ‘Public Choice Theory and the Private Securities Market’.

72 Interview with private security employee, Kumasi, February 20.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sebastian Angzoorokuu Paalo

Sebastian Angzoorokuu Paalo is a lecturer at the Department of History and Political Studies, KNUST. He obtained his Ph.D. in Political Science and International Studies from the University of Queensland (Australia). He serves as a reviewer for many reputable journals and grant applications in his multi-disciplinary fields of governance, peace & conflict, international relations, and development studies. His publications and research interests focus on peace and conflict, governance and politics in Africa, and Africa in international relations.

Dominic Degraft Arthur

Dominic Degraft Arthur is a Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the Department of History and Political Studies, KNUST. He holds a PhD from Aalborg University. His research areas include Global Governance, Urban Politics, Public Policy Analysis, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding, Social and Political Theory, and Comparative International Development.

Aminu Dramani

Aminu Dramani is a senior lecturer at the Department of History and Political Studies, KNUST, Kumasi-Ghana. He holds a PhD in Sociology from KNUST, and his research interest is broadly routed in peace and conflict and political economy.

Samuel Adu-Gyamfi

Samuel Adu-Gyamfi is an Associate Professor of Applied History at the Department of History and Political Studies, KNUST. His research focuses broadly on the social studies of health and medicine in Africa. His current research interest is in the applied history of epidemics, pandemics, education and politics in Africa.