Johnson Asiedu Nketia
THE OPPOSITION National Democratic Congress (NDC) has charged President Akufo-Addo to disband all vigilante groups linked to the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
In a statement issued by its General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the NDC said, “Akufo-Addo must stop the empty rhetoric on political hooliganism and act decisively now.”
The party’s statement was in response to President Akufo-Addo’s call on both NDC and NPP to meet next week and find a lasting solution to political militant vigilantism.
President Akufo-Addo made the call on Thursday, February 21 whilst delivering his third State of the Nation Address (SoNA) in Parliament.
According to NDC, President Akufo-Addo and his ruling NPP have institutionalised vigilantism in Ghana and have recruited vigilantes in National Security.
Thus, it urged that “the Akufo-Addo government takes immediate steps to disband and disarm the illegal armed force being maintained by the National Security Council, which is chaired by no less a person than the President the Republic of Ghana.”
The statement added, “Government must take deliberate steps to purge all security agencies of these NPP thugs and hoodlums.”
NDC’s vigilante group, the Hawks, killed one member of the party in Kumasi on Monday, February 18, 2019.
According to the statement, another thing to be done to end the vigilantism menace is “that the Akufo-Addo government immediately abandons its nefarious plans, and rather instruct all its agents in the regions to halt the state-sanctioned recruitment of political party thugs for the purpose of the 2020 general election.”
It also continued that “in addition, government and the NPP publicly denounces and disbands, not just in word but also in deed, all their vigilante groups and political militias.”
It stated that “we wish to add that government must take steps to bring to justice all the criminal elements, captured on a plethora of videos and pictures meting out disgusting atrocities to innocent civilians during the recent Ayawso West Wuogon by-election.”
Additionally, it said, “We wish to reiterate our call on the Ashanti Regional Police Command to quickly apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators of the NDC Ashanti regional office shooting incident which happened few days ago. We maintain that the said incident is purely criminal and must be treated as such.”
” It is the view of the NDC that beyond his usual smoke and mirrors rhetorics, the president and his party must show a genuine and unwavering political will to undertake the above,” the statement concluded.
BY Melvin Tarlue