James Agalga
The minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) in parliament has linked the recent spate of armed robbery to the emergence of vigilantism in the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The minority said the NPP thugs operating as militant groups had used the name of the president to intimidate, harass and unleash violence on innocent Ghanaians – but the president had failed to tackle the menace with the seriousness it deserves.
The minority claims that President Akufo-Addo should squarely be blamed for the disturbing security situation in the country. The party says he had failed to deal decisively with activities of militant groups like Invincible Forces and Delta Forces.
Addressing a press conference in parliament on Friday, the minority, led by its spokesperson on interior and defence, James Agalga, said that in the run-up to the 2016 general election, the current vice president, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, promised Ghanaians that if then candidate Nana Akufo-Addo was voted as president, Ghanaians would witness tremendous change in the first year of his administration.
The NDC said the veep’s prophesy is now being witnessed by Ghanaians stressing, “The new face of Ghana under President Nana Akufo-Addo is the heightened sense of lawlessness and general insecurity which has become the lot of the citizenry.”
According to the NDC, it is not just the frequency of armed robberies that is disturbing, but also the brazen behaviour of the criminals.
The minority members wondered how in just one week about four major armed robbery cases could be recorded in broad daylight in Rambo styles, mentioning the attacks on an automobile industry and the one on a Lebanese national who had gone to a bank to withdraw an amount of GH¢200,000 to pay salaries of workers. He was killed and the money taken away.
“In the run-up to these high-profile robbery cases, residents of Oyibi in the Greater Accra Region had also reported close to two dozen robbery cases that had made life a fearsome activity in the community,” he said.
Mr Agalga, who is the NDC MP for Builsa North, said in the midst of the extremely frightening security situation, the president had decided to globe-trot and meet world leaders to give speeches without uttering a word of encouragement to scared Ghanaians.
According to the minority spokesperson, the NDC and well-meaning Ghanaians expect that the president will not only denounce these acts of indiscipline, but also spell out decisive measures to proscribe “all the lawless NPP militant groups” as their existence is akin to terror groups.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr