President Nana Akufo-Addo has assured that he will not turn a blind eye to what he called “the new phenomenon of vigilantism” in Ghana.
Addressing a meeting of the National House of Chiefs on Monday, President Akufo-Addo vowed not to compromise on such acts of lawlessness perpetrated by supposed party followers.
[contextly_sidebar id=”3mX38fd7M2iQOOR2hNPCxw3DXv2xLNPB”]”On the new phenomenon of vigilantism, I will do everything in my power to arrest its development. I will not walk the path of others trod who found it convenient to turn a blind eye to the criminal misdeeds of their followers and took no action, as it would displease them.”
“I am walking another path, the path of making reality the principle of the rule of law, the idea of equality of every citizen before the law. Wrongdoers wear no political colours. They are just wrongdoers, and will be dealt with as such,” the President told the chiefs.
Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery, has already warned that Police Commanders who fail to ensure arrests and prosecution in vigilante-related incidents will face sanctions.
Several groups of Ghanaian youth, believed to be members of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), have gone on the rampage in recent months, seizing public toilets and toll booths, locking up state establishments and attacking some state officials.
The government’s commitment to security has been questioned following the recent upsurge, but some arrests have been made in a few recent instances of political vigilantism.
Anti-vigilante task-force
The government, in response to the spate of political vigilantism, has set up a task-force to investigate such occurrences by some aggrieved members of the governing NPP, especially in the northern region.
The task-force is led by a Deputy Minister for Energy, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam Anta, and some of its members include the Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Hassan Tampuli, a Presidential Staffer, Clara Napaga Tia Sulemana, and Managing Director of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Dr. Clifford Braimah.
The Task-Force started work in the Northern Region holding discussions with major stakeholders involving NPP regional executives.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana