Anti-vigilantism talks hopeless with NPP posture – Amaliba

A member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) legal team, Abraham Amaliba, does not have confidence that the talks between his party and the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) on ending political vigilantism in Ghana will yield any positive results.

His conviction is based on what he observed as an “unfavourable” disposition of the NPP at Tuesday’s meeting, which was convened by the National Peace Council for the two parties to dialogue on the way forward.

Mr. Amaliba, who was part of NDC’s team at the first of many meetings, acknowledged it was a “good starting for the two parties to have finally agreed to sit down and discuss”.

But he was quick to add that the outcome of the meeting was not “good enough” because the parties disagreed on some key fundamental issues.

Contributing to TV3’s newspaper review segment on the morning show, Mr. Amaliba said the meeting did not meet the expectations of the NDC and did not inspire any hope.

“The posture of the NPP yesterday did not give us any hope that they came to the table to deal with the matters that confront this country,” he told Johnnie Hughes Wednesday on New Day.

He explained that while the two parties agreed fundamentally that there is the need to disband vigilante groups, the NPP did not agree with identifying the groups and banning them.

The NDC communicator also noted that the NPP rejected their proposal to have a multi-stakeholder engagement by involving institutions like the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Centre.

He added that while the NDC was for the overall disbandment of all vigilante groups, the NPP was for the disbandment of only vigilante groups that are used for political purposes.

Meanwhile, former Vice Chairperson of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Rhodaline Imoro Ayana, has described the NPP and NDC as being dishonest in their approach to ending political vigilantism.