But this is only a part of the story. In the book “Global Policing Research and Practice” it is noted that, the rise of such groups may be part of the package of transition from post-conflict and post-authoritarian rule to democracy and free market systems.

The authors argue this led to engendered: “shrinking state”; privatization and associated economic dislocation; insecurity and inequality; increasing civic activism including community self-policing; decentralisation and local governance.

The proposition supra also fails to understand that in Africa, people prefer to resolve disputes, disagreements internally rather than invite a “foreign entity.” So that even if the police were efficient, there is less patronage of their services.

The use of vigilante groups/private security personnel in Ghana’s election perhaps is first borne out of mistrust for state institutions particularly the security services and the Electoral Commission, to ensure credible elections, and secondly the perception that candidates and leading figures of parties are potential targets. This is akin to the “wirempefo” in Akan culture whose job it was to keep the stool from being taking by a usurper (Rattray, Ashanti law, p.86).

Heavily built young men have since the “competitive” multi party race been recruited and/or constituted themselves into groups directly and or affiliated to the leading political parties.

Funding many times are done covertly and/or overtly by the politicians and or functionaries/sponsors who invest heavily into elections. So in Ghana, there exist several of such groups.

Vigilante groups became more pronounced under the 4th Republic. In the past, political parties and movements hired violent men from the “zongos” to foment trouble and cause confusion.

But now Ghana has more formalised groupings. During the pre-independence era, it was inspired by tension between the left wing and the right wing.

A Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) report, catalogues a number of them; Azorka Boys, Bolga Bull Dogs, Invincible Forces, Bamba Boys and the Kandahar Boys. Other groups identified included Aluta Boys, Nima Boys, Salifu Eleven, Zongo Caucus, Veranda Boys, Supreme, Mahama Boys, Delta Force, Badariba, Basuka Boys and Bindiriba.

Security experts like Dr. Kwesi Aning with extensive research on such groups have longed noted the potential problem the nation faces.
A CDD survey of Ghanaians in 2016 revealed that, nearly 7 out of every 10 respondents who claimed awareness of these groups associated them with the NDC, while 18% linked them to the NPP.

However, irrespective of the presumed party affiliation of these private militias, a clear majority of Ghanaians (63%) regarded their operations and activities as a threat to democracy, and risk to the country.

The threat such groups pose are both overt and latent. The presence of such groups shares parallel forces with the security services in providing security for people and property.

In Ivory Coast, formation of vigilante groups started as a response to frightening crime rates.

People began hiring security guards popularly known as “hunters” for protection.These groups with time worked alongside mainstream security services. The groups soon provided protection also for politicians and the ballot. A vigilante group resisted Robert Guei’s attempt to rig the elections and perpetuate himself in power.

John M. Kabia, Program Officer for West Africa at the Fund for Global Human Rights, noted in his book that, most of the vigilante groups have been implicated in massive human rights abuses across the continent.

In Sierra Leone, such groups terrorised anyone suspected of allying with, or sympathetic to, their opponents. What may account for the mess created by vigilante groups across Africa could be the friction that develops between them and the security agencies, and two, the inability of many countries to control, manage or re integrate such groups after politicians have “used them” for political capital in elections.

In Ghana, vigilante groups have been formed mainly out of mistrust for the political process.

The two leading parties have had cause to overtly and covertly fund the activities of such gangs across the country as it were, to protect them and the ballot. The NPP ahead of the 2016 presidential and Parliamentary elections invited professionals to train their “men” in combat and defence operation.

The party stated it did not trust the state to fully protect its flagbearer now President of Ghana, Nana Akufo Addo. Sometimes it is justified if a stone can be thrown at the opposition leader at a rally ground without any attempt to find the culprit.

Anyone with insight into the workings of the security agencies and its architecture as specified by Ghanaian laws especially the Police administration, will know why it is so difficult to trust them.-They are just not independent.

Ghana’s present circumstances, cannot, and will not suffice or even qualify for the horrendous activities of vigilante groups from West African countries that have had to deal with such groups.

In many jurisdictions, they challenge the state, transform into violent groups, drive away investors and create insecurity. However, it may be a tipping point.

The signs are clearly on the wall. This must serve as a warning sign about the potential of such groups to wreak havoc and torment the political climate with the least disturbance.

The solution may well be within the purview of the two main political parties; the ruling NPP and the opposition NDC.

These parties are known to have sponsored, supported, encouraged and funded these vigilante groups associated with their parties. It is only them and they alone can disband these groups not the state. The state power extends to crimes and/ or potential criminal activities these groups may be involved in.

The constitution under article 21 guarantees freedom of association and such groups, however, they may be called, could come under such umbrella. Are private security guards permitted under the laws of Ghana? The Private Security Organisations Regulations provides for such services. What is required is a monitoring of their activities to ensure compliance.

For instance, the regulation prohibits possession of any fire arm or ammunition in the course of their duties. One quick solution is perhaps to revoke the regulation. The tipping point for the opposition NDC was the violent activities perpetuated by its “Azorka boys” after the 2008 elections.

The party was able to find jobs for some of them in the security services including the Police, Fire Service, and Prison Service. Others were just hangers-on at national security, whilst majority simply branded themselves as party foot soldiers.

They went about seizing everything from management of toilet facilities to collecting of road tolls. It was not entirely a disaster, but many over the years acted unprofessional and advanced their appointers’ vision rather than the national vision.

It is not a good path to continue. Only professionals and qualified persons must be employed in the security services.

In Ghana, the disturbances by vigilante groups continue to be a menace because every regime has failed to deal with it. A new government means a vigilante group rising to make demands, and that of the old government going underground.

But the nation is violently pregnable. And the activities of these groups could birth it during and after elections.

I suggest that Ghana must take a second look at its domineering executive system. The executive wields so much power that it can symbolically turn “a man into a woman.” It is recommended that the winner takes all system must be replaced. The other side is starved practically and it accounts for the tension to regain power and use every means to win or maintain stay in power. Ghana must go back to the Westminster system.

The state must further introduce the “Secret Service” akin to that of the United States. The security service is made up of people who are committed to the course of an administration and the party. When such administration loses election, all members of the service continue to be with them and are paid by the state.

In a system like that, such persons in these vigilante groups will be trained to protect officials of the administration in and out of power. The state will bear their pay. This will free the security agencies like Police and BNI from non-professionals who gain employment on the basis of support for party x or y.

It is also suggested that these MEN could be screened to identify their talents and potentials first.

In the era of aggressive campaign by media and civil society to end illegal mining (Galamsey), one suggestion could be to form a new taskforce with some of these men to go round the mining areas and report such activities to the security services for action.

This is a contentious one, but it’s better to put them to good use than allow them to visit their hunger and anger on innocent people.
–
By: Sammy Darko/[email protected]

The Writer is a Law student, Lecturer, Media Professional and Peace and Security graduate.

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According to the observer group, ensuring the independence of the office of the senior most police officer in the land, would enable the security service deal effectively with political vigilante groups.

[contextly_sidebar id=”CHZg0c6c541141D6Pih65fN2jxhWYF9s”]Following the election of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, there has been an upsurge in the activities of the party’s vigilante groups including the Delta Forces and the Invincible Forces, culminating in the storming of a court by the former in Kumasi.

The previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration was also accused of empowering vigilante groups that were affiliated with the party.

But following a lessons-learned from the 2016 elections workshop held by CODEO, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the group called on the police to clamp down on these groups.

“The existence of political vigilante groups is illegal and the Ghana Police Service should ban and disband these groups immediately as a matter of national security,” the satement from CODEO said.

“The leadership of the NPP and the NDC who are largely responsible for the emergence of these groups in the 4^th Republic should own up to their responsibilities and work together with the police to disband all politically affiliated vigilante groups.

“In the medium to long-term, there should be concerted effort among key election stakeholders to make the Inspector General of Police  independent by insulating him/her from political interference by securing his/her tenure across regimes and ensuring such appointments are transparent and consultative.”

CODEO also commended the Electoral Commission (EC) and other stakeholders for the conduct of last year’s successful general elections, citing the increased access for the media, accessibility for Persons With Disabilities (PWDs), the role of the Judiciary in dealing with election-related cases and “close collaboration amongst domestic election observation groups.”

Below is the full statement from CODEO:

COMMUNIQUE ISSUED BY PARTICIPANTS AT THE COALITION OF DOMESTIC ELECTION OBSERVERS’ (CODEO) STAKEHOLDER REVIEW WORKSHOP ON GHANA’S 2016 PRESIDENTIAL AND GENERAL ELECTIONS AT AQUA SAFARI RESORT IN ADA, GREATER ACCRA REGION ON MARCH 27-29, 2017

The Coalition of Domestic Election observers (CODEO), with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), held a lessons-learned workshop from

March 27 to 29, 2017 at the Aqua Safari Resort in Ada in the Greater Accra Region to assess the conduct of the 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections. The workshop brought together a diverse group of election stakeholders to a single platform to take stock of the conduct of the 2016 Presidential and General elections and draw valuable lessons for improving the conduct of future elections.

Participants deliberated, among others, on the following topics:

• Pre-election/polling phase events, gaps/omissions;

• Election/polling day and immediate post-election phase events, such as collation, announcement and declaration of election results, especially for the presidential election;

• Voter Register;
• Civic and Voter Education;

• Media coverage of the elections;
• Enforcement of electoral regulations;
• Vote-buying and abuse of incumbency;

• Election and campaign financing in Ghana;
• Election security.

And shared the following views:

1. The Electoral Commission (EC) successfully delivered free, fair and peaceful elections, particularly in the management of the polling process on Election Day.

2. There was improvement in the media’s ability to access information on election issues from the EC, political parties, civil society organizations (CSOs) and other stakeholders in a timely manner; media creation of platforms for issue-based campaigning and policy discourse was improved; and collaboration amongst key election stakeholders and the media was also much improved.

3. There was improvement in the level of physical accessibility enjoyed by persons with disability (PWDs) in the electoral processes; voter education materials were made in Braille and sign language interpreters were used at main campaign rallies of the two big political parties.

1. The early activation of the National Election Security Task Force (NESTF) infrastructure and the strategic deployment of police to hotspots helped to mitigate the incidence of violence on Election Day.

1. The proactive intervention of the Judiciary in the management of election related cases played a commendable role in ensuring the success of the 2016 elections.

1. Close collaboration amongst domestic election observation groups contributed to improved citizen observation of the electoral process.

Participants resolved that all the above-mentioned accomplishments and positive lessons learned from Election 2016 must be applied to future elections.

However, participants noted the following gaps and/or raised concerns about:

1. Persistent gaps with the credibility of the voter register, particularly the issues relating to establishing the eligibility of registrants, challenges with cleaning the register to remove names of the deceased, and in the conduct of periodic and continuous voter registration exercises.

2. Mistrust and suspicion still exist between the EC and some political parties. The EC’s lack of transparency and engagement with political parties and candidates on some electoral processes. For example, the debacle over the disqualification of some presidential candidates during the candidate registration process could have been avoided if the EC had adopted a more transparent and engaging approach.

3. Fees set for filing by candidates, obtaining accreditation for domestic election observers and media were arbitrary. For example filing fee of GHC 50,000 for the presidential and GHC 10,000 for the parliamentary candidates in 2016 was too high.

4. Issues of exclusion still remain in terms of opportunities for women in the political and media space during elections.

5. Female candidates’ access to media was generally limited; however, women did not fully utilize the few media opportunities granted to them to articulate their views and issues.

6. Vote buying and selling bedevil Ghanaian elections.

7. The two major parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are largely responsible for the creation of political vigilante groups/party militia in Ghana. They pose a mortal danger to Ghana’s electoral politics and democratic development.

8. The continuous and uncontrolled abuse of incumbency during elections is of major concern.

9. The media did not give sufficient attention to issues of concern to the development of citizens during the election.

10. The delays in results collation and releases, in respect of the Presidential elections, nearly marred the incident-free polling process.

11. The rising cost of campaign financing on the part of political parties and funding of elections are of concern and steps must be taken to address them.

12. Enforcement of electoral rules by the EC and political party accountability remains weak.

After careful deliberations on the above issues, participants made the following recommendations:

Compiling a more Credible and Reliable Register:

• The EC should maintain the current 2016 register while it continues to clean and audit the register. To this end, the EC should fully implement continuous registration in collaboration with stakeholders, including political parties, the National Identification Authority (NIA), Births and Deaths Registry, district assemblies, CSOs to take appropriate steps to clean the voter register.

• Political parties must take seriously all phases of voter registration exercise, particularly during the exhibition of the provisional voter register phase.

• In the short term, the EC must consider an appropriate scientific and internationally acceptable methodology for auditing the current voter register to ascertain particular areas of challenge for redressing. In the medium to long term, the EC working with the NIA, and other state bio-data collecting and storage agencies to develop a more reliable and credible voter register and eventually compile a new register. During this period the Commission must progressively do away with the guarantee system.

• Constitutional Instrument 91 should be amended to require the certification of the voter register 30 days before Election Day.

• The District Assemblies should enforce the law that requires all citizens to obtain a birth certificate and death certificate before they are permitted to bury their deceased family members.

Enforcing Electoral Laws

• The Electoral Commission, Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) and stakeholders should work together to amend PNDC law 284 to set a six-month period for campaigning during each year of presidential and general elections, as part of efforts to minimize cost, check incumbency abuse and help regulate campaign financing.

• EC should establish an enforcement unit, which should include a legal advisory support, to enforce laws regarding the conditions for maintaining a registered party and accounting for political party campaign finances. If setting this unit may impose undue financial burden, the EC should consider delegating some of these responsibilities, particularly the auditing of political party expenditures, to the Auditor-General or collaborate with the Auditor-General to fulfill its mandate.

• To address the challenges of curbing the proliferation of inactive political parties, the Commission should enforce the provisions of Article 55 (7) of the 1992 Constitution requiring registered parties to organise in at least two-thirds of constituencies.

• The EC should work on standardizing its schedule of fees for nomination and accreditation among others services. In setting fees the Commission, as a public institution, should aim to primarily cover its administrative cost for providing the service.

Civic/Voter Education and Promoting Inclusion

• Civic and voter education must be well coordinated and continuous in between elections. It must not only focus on voting and peace promotion but also cover all other areas of civic and political rights as well as democratic citizenship.

• Political parties should also incorporate civic and voter education among their supporters and into their programs

• The media should intensify collaboration with the EC, CSOs and other stakeholders throughout the election phase.

• Political parties are urged to do more towards effective representation, inclusion and participation of the marginalized particularly women and PWDs.

Politically Affiliated Vigilante Groups

• The existence of political vigilante groups is illegal and the Ghana Police Service should ban and disband these groups immediately as a matter of national security.

• The leadership of the NPP and the NDC who are largely responsible for the emergence of these groups in the 4^th Republic should own up to their responsibilities and work together with the police to disband all politically affiliated vigilante groups.

• In the medium to long term, there should be a concerted effort amongst key election stakeholders to make the Inspector General of Police independent by insulating him/her from political interference by securing his/her tenure across regimes and ensuring such appointments are transparent and consultative.

Election Results Collation, Transmission, Announcement and Declaration

• The EC should plan towards setting up the National Collation Centre in a more spacious location on Election Day to accommodate many stakeholders.

• The EC should invest in a more robust and transparent ICT system that will secure the transmission of the results from the polling stations to the Constituency Collation Centres and the National Collation Centre concurrently. This system should be developed to transmit quick and accurate results to aid in the timely release of the results. The manual process of collating results should however be maintained to serve as a backup if the system experiences a breakdown.

• Political parties should be given a “Read Only” access to the securely transmitted results data.

• Instead of the EC waiting to get results from all constituencies, it should rather adopt the release of results intermittently as and when they receive it. This will help diffuse anxiety experienced by citizens and also build confidence in the electoral process.

Financing Elections and Campaign Financing in Ghana

• It should be Ghana’s responsibility to totally fund its own elections within its own budget including election security. Election security expenditure should be factored into EC’s overall budget.

• To sustain financing of elections and other key democratic governance activities, the Nana Akufo-Addo government should fully implement the recommendation of the Constitutional Review Commission on the establishment and operation of a Democracy Fund for Independent Constitutional Bodies.

• The government and EC should undertake a comparative study of the cost of Ghana’s election in relation to other African countries to improve efficiency and cost management, as the country’s election cost is considered high.

• The EC must plan to stagger its budget request for the four-year period in between local government and general elections and not wait to implement all activities in the year of conducting Presidential and General elections.

• To sustain political party campaign financing, the EC, IPAC and other major stakeholders should work towards lowering cost of political party campaign financing, including considering placing a ceiling on campaign expenditure (e.g set limit on amount to be used on elections, best practice exist to guide the ceiling or cut off), enhance support given to parties to complement their cost during election campaigning, such as allocation of airtime to parties, restoring logistical support to political parties (e.g. the provision of vehicles, security).

5

• In addressing the rising cost of campaign financing, focus should be placed on transparency and creating a level playing field for all parties. Previous works and studies done in this direction may be revisited.

Conclusion

CODEO will compile the various presentations and details of the deliberations at the workshop for publication. The recommendations from the workshop, some of which are contained in this communiqué, will also inform advocacy for electoral reforms to help improve the conduct of subsequent elections in the country. On behalf of the CODEO Advisory Board and my Co-Chair, I express my profound gratitude to all participants, all the speakers and resource persons, who attended the workshop. CODEO’s post-election stakeholders review workshop was made

possible with the generous support of the American people through USAID.

Signed jointly by:

Professor Miranda Greenstreet (Co-Chair)

Justice VCRAC Crabbe
(Co-Chair)
Dated: April 6, 2017

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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It is against this backdrop, the GYE implores Nana Akufo Addo’s government to quickly create the environment to generate jobs.

Its Executive Secretary, Pamela Yopee said successive governments should concentrate on creating opportunities for entrepreneurs to grow.

This in her estimation could help reduce the alarming unemployment ratio which necessitated formation of the Unemployed Graduates Association.

She spoke to citifmonline.com on the sidelines at the Young Entrepreneurs Conference packaged as “Beyond Take Off,” held in Tamale.

Pamela Yopee observed that the political vigilante groups’ nefarious activities scared foreign investors whose services are required to boost the nation’s young entrepreneurs.

She emphasized the need to disband all existing political vigilante groups and rather empower the youth to think entrepreneurial.

“Self-reliance is important and I therefore urge government to create enough jobs and support already existing young entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.”

She condemned politicization of disbursement of funds allocated to state financial institutions such as the Macro and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC).

“For the few of us who ventures into enterprising, can’t sustain it because the conditions and structures adopted by the private and public sectors are not favorable. You will bear with me that even before you get your business incorporated, you would have to wade through difficulties. Talking of funds, we are considered as high risk business cohorts and so no one is willing to loan us even a kobo to grow our businesses. The sad thing is the public sector that was supposed to be the last resort has also politicized everything and prefers to listen to pressure groups and party sympathizers.”

“I believe we can solve this by rising above these challenges, unite and legitimately fight for our future and the future of this nation. If the support is not forth coming, we can still support ourselves to grow our businesses if we are united.”

“I call on you and all young entrepreneurs who are driven by the passion to create wealth, jobs and contribute to national development to join Ghana’s Young Entrepreneurs (GYE). A youth association that is a firm believer of networks and its major strategic direction is based on its ability to build a robust network of entrepreneurs and create a strong movement that will be the voice to be reckoned with in championing youth entrepreneurship nationally.”

She said the GYE network could boast of 600 membership across the country.

A lecturer of the University for Development Studies (UDS), Alidu Abdul Fatayi presented a paper on some keys issues to consider starting a business venture in Ghana.

He advocated huge investment in agribusiness as best means of empowering young entrepreneurs within the Savannah Ecological Zone.

He tasked the participants to think big, readjust and develop business strategies to achieve their goals.

Chief Executive Officer of Northern Television (NTV), Siita Hissan decried northern business moguls lackadaisical attitude towards supporting young entrepreneurs.

He called for attitudinal change and inspired aspiring young entrepreneurs in Northern Ghana to develop the “Can do spirit” and succeed with their business plans.

“Being an entrepreneur in Northern Ghana is frustrating but I encourage you to rise up and serve as game changers and let’s find solutions to our entrepreneurial problems.”

Siita Hissan urged young entrepreneurs to form synergies for loans and other support from multinationals.

Northern Regional Chapter of the Ghana Young Entrepreneurs network was officially inaugurated.

–

By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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