Kintampo disaster: Group condemns Invisible Forces

Civil society group, Right Alliance-Ghana, has condemned the New Patriotic Party’s Invisible Forces, and accused it of having contributed to last Sunday’s disaster at the Kintampo Waterfalls that killed 19 people. It said the alleged seizure of the facility by the NPP group post the 2016 elections “obviously deprived the tourist site of competent and skilled management.”

The Chief of Kyeremankoma where the tragedy occurred, Nana Effah Guarkuro, had claimed that the local chapter of the Invisible Forces drove away the District Assembly officers managing the facility and took over.

A statement issued by Right Alliance Ghana, and signed by its chairman, Dr. Khadel Mahama, the Sunday incident “may therefore be a situation of inexperienced, unskilled neophytes managing the place that led to the disaster”.

It partly blamed the National Democratic Congress for its failure to ensure the disbandment of the Invisible Forces and other similar vigilante groups despite the efforts made by the Police Administration.

“It should be noted that during the incident in front of the then NPP flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s residence, one of them actually pointed a gun in the face of the Commander of the anti-terrorism squad and got away with it,” Right Alliance Ghana claimed.

It said the failure of authorities to act in that incident may have “emboldened them and made them more brazen, hence the violent and unlawful takeover of public property including the Kintampo Waterfall in the wake of the Party’s electoral victory”.

“The Right Alliance-Ghana therefore fervently appeals to President Akufo-Addo to, as a matter of urgency, see to the complete disbandment and disarming of all vigilante groups in the country including the Invisible Forces,” it appealed The group argued that a total disbandment of all vigilante groups in the country will be in the best interest of the nation and should be done without further delay.