Eliminate party vigilantism to sustain democratic governance – CODEO

Mr Albert Kofi Arhin, the National Coordinator of the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has called on the government to take steps to eliminate the existence of political party vigilantism to help ensure clean democratic governance.

He said this would help curb the rate of violence threatening the electoral and democratic development of the nation.

Mr Arhin made the call at a media briefing after a roundtable discussion on the menace of political party vigilantism with stakeholders in Tamale.

The participants were representatives from the Electoral Commission (EC), National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), the security services, political parties, civil society organisations, traditional rulers and the media.

Mr Arhin also called on the media to make the subject a critical matter for public discussion on the various platforms in order to help eliminate political party vigilantism in the country.

According to CODEO, during the roundtable discussion, some of the participants blamed the ineffectiveness of the security services especially the police.

They said the political parties feel insecure because of the inadequate state protection given to them when carrying out their activities during elections.

The participants, however, suggested that a national security summit be organised to deliberate, and develop actionable plans to tackle identified threats to the state’s security including party vigilantism.

The participants also called on members of the political parties to openly admit the existence of the vigilante groups and stop funding them as means of eliminating their existence.

They also appealed to government to revive the regional and district inter-party dialogue and improve on voter and civic education, aiming at increasing civic consciousness in the country.

Naa Yakubu Abdulai, the chief of Sagnerigu, appealed to the government to actively involve the youth in the decision making process in order to make them relevant in the governance of the state.

He said conscious efforts should also be made to solve the youth and graduate unemployment rate in the country.

Naa Abdulai stressed on the importance of resuscitating the various state institutions in order to promote the rule of law in the country.