IT is sickening to continuously hear news of vigilante groups affiliated with the so-called two major political parties—the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC)—engage in illegal activities. And normally these activities by the vigilante groups of these two parties are carried out with impunity the moment any of these two parties finds themselves in government.
THIS is exactly the case with the NPP now steering affairs of this country. One would have expected that the activities of NPP vigilante groups was going to cease when the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, made his State of the Nation address in February and again after he put in place a ministerial team to help him prosecute his change agenda. His calls have unfortunately fallen on deaf ears.
RATHER, what we are witnessing is hardly a week or month passes by without one hearing of the Invincible Forces, (a vigilante group affiliated with the NPP), storming one government agency or the other to forcibly demand the removal of the head. The situation has left many Ghanaians asking whether our police force is so powerless that they cannot work with the existing laws in this country to stamp out lawlessness.
AND just as we were settling down with the disruptions of the Invincible Forces, another NPP vigilante group—Delta Force—on Friday, March 25, 2017 struck in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region in the full glare of media cameras and the presence of some police officers. According to reports, members of the Delta Force on the said day carried out an unlawful act by manhandling the Regional Security Coordinator for Ashanti Region, Mr. George Adjei and physically chasing him out of his office.
WHILE it is refreshing to hear that the Ashanti Regional Police Command has arrested the leader of Delta Force, Kwadwo Bamba, we expect the police to follow through and arrest all those who engaged in that unlawful act.
SERIOULSY, what is goading these NPP vigilante groups on is the mantra that “our party is in power.” That mantra and the fact that nothing can be done to them is what is encouraging such NPP groups to act unlawfully.
IF that is not that case then why has no arrest been made so far in the case of some Invincible Forces visibly seen beating a senior police officer at the Flagstaff House, a couple of months ago? And shockingly Interior Minister, Ambrose Derry, went to inform our law-makers that the matter was still being investigated even when there is a video evidence showing the faces of the culprits.
THIS is indeed laughable, and it shows how the laws of our country are selectively applied. What is even irritating is the fact that the NPP while in opposition condemned the NDC for allowing their vigilante groups including Verandar Boys, Azorka Boys etc., to visit mayhem on innocent citizens of this country.
IN the estimation of Today what is bad is bad no matter how hard one tries to defend it. This is why we are saddened when we hear some NPP stalwarts defend the condemnable actions by their vigilante groups.
WE are however, happy that President Akufo-Addo has tasked the Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante-Appeatu, to deal with such occurrences. While condemning members of the Delta Force who perpetuated that criminal offence in Kumasi we also add our voices by calling on the IGP and his men and women in uniform to deal with these disturbances.
THE fact is that such incidents do not bode well for our democracy. Perhaps the time has come for our Members of Parliament (MPs) to pass a law to ban such political party vigilante groups in the country. And our MPs must look at this issue dispassionately if we are bent on doing away with such groups and their attendant effects in the country.
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