Akufo-Addo made fight against vigilantism easier – Oppong Nkrumah asserts

The Minister for Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says vigilantism, which few months ago was on the rise in the country should be seen purely as crime and not a political party issue.

He noted Tuesday that Ghana’s laws classify vigilantism as a crime; hence it must be dealt with by the security agencies as being done with other crimes.

“What some call vigilantism, if you look into our statues books it’s crime; causing harm with offensive weapons, rioting, they’re all criminal acts”, he stated in a one-on-one interview with Winston Amoah on 3FM’s Sunrise.

The Ofoase-Ayirebi Member of Parliament said the fight against political vigilantism under the Akufo-Addo government has been made easier, noting the President had charged the security agencies to deal with it without fear or favour.

He said the government has taken the fight against political vigilantism head-on and has made considerable progress in that regard claiming, “I’m not sure we’ve seen another incident since we have started making this point quite clearly”.

Nonetheless, he said the fight requires a comprehensive approach which ropes in all the major stakeholders.

“What we need to do is to take it out of the real of politics, put it in the basket of crime, resource and encourage the security agencies to do their job and that is what currently is being done,” he said.

Mr.Oppong Nkrumahs said the judiciary must also be encouraged to be fair and firm in dealing with persons brought before them accused of vigilantism.

The Minister however noted that it will take a collective responsibility to overcome the situation.

Meanwhile, he announced that more financial clearance will be given to employ more people in the public sector following the Ghana’s exit from the IMF programme.