As President Nana Akufo-Addo’s administration nears the 100-day mark, some of Ghana’s major political parties have cited violent attacks by some pro-government vigilante groups as its major failing.
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for one, noted that levels of lawlessness in the country escalated in the few months of President Akufo-Addo’s governance.
A deputy General of the NDC, Koku Anyidoho, noted that President Akufo-Addo assumed office with a lot of goodwill but added that “I can say with a lot of certainty that he has lost a lot of that goodwill.”
In his view, the disappointment is quite obvious, given the “gross lawlessness, brigandry, hooliganism, show of weakness, incompetence and his inability to stop the hoodlums of his side [the New Patriotic Party].”
“He speaks at the State of the Nation address and assures us that the hooliganism will end, he tells us that the police have the authority to operate, but the hooliganism just escalates,” Koku Anyidoho stated in a Citi News interview.
Akufo-Addo has failed to deal with vigilante groups
Also speaking to Citi News, the People’s National Convention (PNC), held the view that the actions of these vigilante groups affiliated with the ruling party have been a bane to the president’s quest to rally Ghanaians behind his developmental agenda.
“The famous vigilante group menace is something that this administration has failed woefully to deal with,” the General Secretary of the PNC, Atik Mohammed noted.
He however lauded President Akufo-Addo for being able to constitute his government and complete the appointment of his ministers within his first hundred days, though he opined that the Akufo-Addo administration has “betrayed its promise [of a lean government] and decided to go for a rather bloated government.”
Nana Addo must show leadership
In the Convention People’s Party’s (CPP) view, the size of the Akufo-Addo government did not matter as long as it translated to results.
“As a political Party, we argued that the numbers didn’t really matter. The most important thing is that the goods should be delivered to the benefit of the Ghanaian people,” Kadir Abdul Rauf, the Director of Communications for CPP stated.
He however said it has not been rosy for the Akufo-Addo government which “hasn’t done much or achieved something that stands out for us to talk about.”
“There are seeming levels of insecurity in the country given the activities of the vigilante groups trying to take our laws into their own hands, which is very disturbing, and has no historical precedent in our country. We want to call on our President to show leadership by ensuring that those people coil back into their shells.”
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By: Delali Adoga-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana