Vigilante groups could turn into Ghana’s version of Boko Haram - Alex Segbefia warns

The Deputy Campaign Director of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alex Segbefia, has said Ghana could end up with the Boko Haram scenario if vigilante groups are not disbanded in the country.

According to Alex Segbefia, arming vigilante groups is very dangerous to the nation and as such, the need for the conutry to take a drastic approach in stopping it.

Vigilante groups are mostly created by some members of the two leading political parties [NDC and NPP] and in recent times have gained momentum with the numbers rising significantly.

“Don’t arm people in this nature [vigilantism]. We will end up if not careful with the Boko Haram scenario.”

“We have serious concerns and you only have to go and do the history and understand how some of these work”, he said.

Mr Segbefia who was a former Health Minister emphasized that, “so we read this at the peace council that you have narrowed the scope of what is happening now in Ghana to narrowly.”

“You must expand it and deal with the issue on the larger scale”, he concluded.

Background

The political vigilantism dialogue was instituted by the National Peace Council following the violence that marred the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency by-election in 2019.

Despite earlier disagreements, the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress committed to the dialogue and indicated their preparedness to end the menace.

The dialogue was meant to focus on examining the draft roadmap and code of conduct prepared by the Technical Committee as part of steps to tackle the menace.

The 31-page road map has what the parties need to do in the short, medium and long term to eradicate political vigilantism from Ghana’s political dispensation.