Police unfairness gave rise to vigilantism under Akufo-Addo gov’t – Dep. AG

Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame says the ugly episode of hooliganism by the New Patriotic Party’s private security arm-Delta Force, Invisible Forces was borne out of the blatant unfairness played out by the Police in the past NDC government against such persons.

Speaking on Starr Chat Wednesday, Mr. Godfred Dame said Police must address the unfairness in its operations and apply the law dispassionately in political crime.

“It is the failure of the Police forces to deal with people in an equal measure, to deal with people dispassionately, irrespective of where you belong to that also fuels all of those things.”

In the run up to the December elections, there were vigorous campaigns that sparked some pockets of violence in the country.

The period leading to Ghana’s elections on December 7, even saw the home of the then main opposition leader, Nana Akufo-Addo, now the President of the Republic being attacked by NDC protesters.

Some reports said police officers stood unconcerned while NDC supporters attempted storming the house and in the process started attacking the property with stones and bottles amid wild insults.

But in the heat of the siege, shots were fired from the home of Mr. Akufo-Addo, suspected to be an action taken by the two bodyguards that were at post during the disturbances.

The provocative action by the NDC supporters received worldwide condemnation, with both the United States and United Kingdom governments expressing their disgust at the upsurge of violence at the time.

However, Mr. Godfred Dame interacting with host Bola Ray on Starr FM’s Personality Profile Show Wednesday said the antecedent to this unruly behaviour by the vigilante group within his party can be traced to the injustices meted out to them by the Police in the NDC era.

Especially in the case of the attacks on Mr. Akufo-Addo’s home in December, last year, the Deputy AG said: “Rather interestingly it was those security men who were invited to the police station, and not those people who were the attackers. Those who provoked the assaults were left, because at that time they had the protection of the state or the law. And I think that that is wrong.”

He continued: “And so that is why it is so good that the Invisible Forces or the Delta Forces were dealt with in the manner in which they were handled.”