Stop vigilantism this year – Aning to government

Security Analyst Dr. Kwasi Aning has charged the Akufo-Addo government to take steps to ensure that the brazen impunity displayed by some of its supporters in its first year in office is not repeated in 2018.

Speaking Monday, January 8, 2018, to Starr News on the back of the first anniversary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, Dr. Aning commended President Akufo-Addo for the tough rhetoric against the menace as he called for more action going forward.

The country was on edge last year – the NPP’s first year in office – following the failure of the Ghana Police Service (GPS) and the government to ruthlessly deal with political vigilantism.

Groups like the NPP’s Delta Forces, Kandahar Boys, Burma Camp and Invisible Forces grabbed headlines for boldly attacking state officials and locking up state buildings in what Security analysts described as a “dangerous trend of lawlessness”.

“They have some veritable challenges – the rhetorical style has been very good. But there’s been this disturbing impunity in terms of the vigilantes particularly the Delta Forces, the Invisible Forces who sought to challenge the authority of the President which is totally unacceptable,” said Dr. Aning who is also the Director, Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research, Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC).

He continued, “Then, we have the small arms issue – 2.5 million unregistered guns in civilian hands and nothing has been…done in terms of collecting these guns or providing a strategy to respond to them.”

That notwithstanding, he said, he is impressed with the “increasingly transparent conversation” on the responsibility of citizens in improving community relations.