Election 2020: Vigilante law will be enforced to the letter – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring that the peace currently being enjoyed in the country is not disrupted by the 2020 elections.

Addressing residents and chiefs of Talensi as part of his tour of the Upper East Region, Nana Akufo-Addo said that persons or institutions who intend to instigate violence during the elections will be dealt with by the state.

He disclosed that security agencies have been instructed to deal heavily with any vigilante group which will foment trouble during the elections.

“It is not going to be a law just on paper. It will be acted upon if anybody tries to breach the law. And I am saying this and I have said to the security agencies and the IGP and the top hierarchy of the police, that as far as the vigilante law is concerned, I am colour-blind,” Akufo-Addo is quoted by Citi FM.

The NPP flagbearer earlier stated that he does not want be a beneficiary of a rigged elections.

He insisted that contrary to accusations by the opposition NDC, his government is committed to ensuring the playing field is levelled for parties involved in the elections.

“Let me state, without any form of equivocation, that these deployments are not in any way intended to intimidate or prevent eligible Ghanaians from registering to vote in December. They are there for their express purpose, which is to guard our borders. That is the limit of their remit, and they will not be permitted to stray beyond that remit".

“I am fully aware, like the military commanders, of the sensitivity of their deployments at this point in our history, and I am confident that that sensitivity will be fully respected. I have no interest in disenfranchising any eligible Ghanaian from registering in tomorrow’s exercise, nor am I interested in any improper machinations to win any election.

" I have spent my life fighting for free, democratic institutions in our country, and I will continue in that fight for the rest of my life. The idea of being a President, who emerges from a rigged election, is abhorrent to every fibre of my being. I want to continue to be the President of a Ghanaian people who have given me their free consent, with the blessing of the Almighty,” the President said.

About vigilante bill

The Vigilantism and related offences law which bans acts of vigilantism in Ghana, disbands vigilante groups, including political party vigilante groups and land guards.

According to President Akufo-Addo who accented to the law in September 2019, “a person who directly or indirectly instigates or solicits the activity of a vigilante, facilitates or encourages vigilantism, or conceals a vigilante to avoid lawful arrest, commits an offence, and is liable, on conviction, to a term of imprisonment of not less than ten (10) years and not more than fifteen (15) years.”