The New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic
Congress (NDC) have jointly agreed to the eradication of vigilantism from the
democratic system since it is “inimical” to our development.
The two sides came to the agreement after an open and exhaustive deliberations
mediated by the National Peace Council (NPC) in Accra on Tuesday.
Chairmen of the two parties; the NPP’s Freddie Worsemao Blay and the NDC’s
Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo signed a joint communiqué after their closed-doors meetings
which followed earlier calls by President Nana Akufo-Addo to the two major
parties to meet to disband their respective vigilante groups.
The communiqué indicated that the two parties are “committed to exploring other
processes in relation to the elimination of vigilantism”. However, they
disagreed on the immediate focus of the mediation.
The two political parties also agreed on the disbandment of vigilante groups
within political parties or for political purposes, prohibit the ownership,
hiring or utilization of such groups by the political parties or members
thereof and pledged to cooperate with state agencies and stakeholders to ensure
the total eradication of such groups or any incidence of vigilantism.
Meanwhile the Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) Mrs Josephine Nkrumah has called on the media and stakeholders to compliment the awareness activities of the commission towards the disbandment of Vigilantism in Ghana.
Mrs Nkrumah stated during a launch of a report on engagements with political parties and other stakeholders on the menace of “Political Party Vigilantism”.
She said risks such as activities of the Vigilante groups as well as the weak institutional capacity pose a major threat to the 2020 presidential and Parliamentary elections.
