It has emerged that the lack of confidence exhibited by political parties in Ghana’s security agencies is a major trigger for increasing political party vigilantism in the country which has led in part to loss of life and destruction of properties.
This came out as one of the major issues during a workshop organised by the Coalition For Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) when they interacted with some stakeholders on how to curb the menace.
Other notable pointers that emerged included the need to adequately resource and empower the security and law enforcement agencies
* To deal with such criminality in all forms;
* The security agencies must deepen the deployment of intelligence to tackle the issue of political party vigilantism;
* The need to strengthen the independence of the security agencies, especially the leadership, which may require a second look at their appointment process so as to prevent political interference;
* The need to ensure equal and fair level playing field on the electoral terrain and to avoid no-go areas for candidates and parties
* The need to deepen civic and voter education among the citizenry, and also intensify education of the political elites and the media;
* Political parties and their leaders must be part of the solution to curbing the growing phenomenon;
Conscious and collective efforts to address the winner takes all political system prevailing in the country; and
* The state must address the high youth unemployment rates in the country.
CODEO in its statement indicated that it will continue to advocate for peaceful and credible elections during and in between elections and called on all stakeholders, including the political parties, security agencies, and the public at large to, as a matter of urgency, address this growing canker.
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