We shall not disband vigilante groups – Eastern Region NDC

The Eastern regional organizer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Hackman Kabore has said the party will not disband its vigilante groups unless its opponents do so.

Kabore, who founded the vigilante group “Eastern Mambas” said the largest opposition must see convincing commitment on the part of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to disband theirs.

According to him, the party has intelligence the NPP will pretend to have disbanded its vigilante groups but will clandestinely rebrand them National Security Operatives ostensibly to unleash mayhem in 2020 as part of a grand agenda to hold on to power.

He alleged the Minister of State in charge of National Security is training a vigilante group at Mpraeso.

“The evidence is that when you are travelling to Mpraeso to Nkwatia, after Ohene Nana, he [Bryan Acheampong] has built a hotel there. And even today provided he has not hidden them because of the public outcry when you go there, even at the Mpraeso Mosque some of them are Muslims so they go there to pray, you will meet them with guns in their pockets. I am telling you some of them are from Bawku, Nima, Maamobi, I know some of them and they know me,” he alleged.

“If a government that has armed forces, police service and other security operatives yet form militia men and you want us to disband our group? Let the IGP understand that we will not disband our vigilantes. Even next month, we are going to train about 3000 more,” Kabore told Starr News.

He added: “What the Christian Council and the IGP are saying are just to deceive us. Even after the incident, they have trained MMDCEs on how to handle weapons, deployment, VIP management, crowd control management. What are these trainings for?”

The IGP David Asante-Apeatu on Thursday served notice to political parties to disband vigilante groups.

Addressing the media Thursday at the police headquarters in Accra, Asante-Apeatu served notice the police will “not tolerate any form of political violence” going forward.

“Denounce vigilante groups,” the ballistic expert stressed.

Asante-Apeatu said the police administration is in the process of “profiling all groups found to be vigilantes” within the political setup.

He added: “Vigilante groups are illegal. Disband them. Only two groups of securities are recognized in Ghana under the constitution; the state security and the private security.”