Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Committee, has expressed strong views regarding Ghana’s response to the recent deadly attack in Burkina Faso and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' subsequent travel advisory. While welcoming the advisory, Jinapor insists that it is inadequate on its own and requires further, more robust government action.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a travel advisory urging Ghanaians to exercise caution when traveling to high-risk areas in neighboring countries, particularly northern Burkina Faso and other regions affected by violent extremism. However, Mr. Jinapor argued that cross-border trading constitutes a daily livelihood for many Ghanaians, making it unrealistic to expect citizens to simply cease traveling based on an advisory. He stated on Joy FM’s Top Story, "Well, I think the call by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to be welcomed, first of all. But the call is not enough. The call itself is not sufficient." He further stressed that the government must move beyond issuing warnings and implement urgent security interventions to protect Ghanaian citizens who will inevitably continue traveling for their survival. "I think that the government should put in place urgent contingency security measures to protect Ghanaian citizens and not rely on a call alone," he emphasized, adding his certainty that many Ghanaians would prioritize their daily realities and livelihoods over strictly adhering to the advisory.

In a separate but related statement, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor described the recent terrorist attack in Titao, Burkina Faso, which tragically claimed the lives of eight Ghanaians, as a major intelligence failure. During an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story on Tuesday, February 17, he called for the government to institute an independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the attack. This inquiry, he suggested, would help assemble all the facts to better inform the country and its agencies on how to prevent similar tragedies in the future. "This is a clear intelligence failure and to that extent, we believe that we should have some sort of an independent inquiry into this matter, to assemble all the facts and be able to inform our country and its agencies and state apparatus to be able to be on top of future occurrences such as this," he stated.

The February 14 jihadist assault in northern Burkina Faso specifically targeted members of the Ghana National Tomatoes Traders and Transporters Association. The Damango MP underscored the critical importance of regional intelligence cooperation, recalling the effectiveness of the ECOWAS-backed Accra Initiative, introduced under the Akufo-Addo administration, as a strong platform for intelligence sharing among coastal West African states. He urged the government to revive and strengthen such collaborations as violent extremism continues its spread across the sub-region. Furthermore, Mr. Jinapor cautioned the government to be mindful of how Ghana's posture might be perceived in the ongoing conflict in Burkina Faso, warning that extremist groups could interpret Ghana’s actions as taking sides, potentially exacerbating regional tensions.