National Chairman of PNC, Bernard Mornah
National Chairman of the opposition Peoples National Convention (PNC) Bernard Mornah has revealed that members of the party have also begun forming a vigilante group to protect themselves.
The phenomenon of political parties forming vigilante groups appears to have become an established part of Ghana’s body politic with civil society groups and other state bodies including the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) calling on all political parties to show their commitment to national stability by disbanding all vigilante groups affiliated to them.
The two main political parties, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have all at a point in time deployed their vigilante groups during elections, where they’ve unleashed violence on their political opponents.
It is believed that the recent violence that marred the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election including the slapping of NDC MP for Ningo-Prampram, Sam George was perpetrated by members of the NPP vigilante groups – Invisible Forces and Delta Force clad in National Security T-shirts, and not operatives of National Security as the government claims.
This development caused ex-President John Mahama to serve notice that the NDC will meet the NPP boot for boot in the 2020 general elections which promise to be keenly contested among the two leading parties.
In an interview with Okay FM, Bernard Mornah said some members of the PNC have taken their destiny into their own hands and are bracing themselves up to protect themselves during the 2020 elections because the police have been found wanting during elections.
“My party members in Ashanti and Brong Ahafo are very angry and they’ said to me, you people sit in Accra and say that PNC is a peace loving party but we’ll not sit down and allow anybody to come and harm us, so we too we’ll form our human shield to defemd ourselves. That is what my party people are telling me, in fact some of them told me that they’ve already started forming their own vigilante groups.
“One of the shocking revelation is that vigilantism has become a source for employment, there are promoters of vigilantism where they hire macho men to cause commotion and pay them for their services, and the police are terrified.”
