[ 2019-03-14 ]

President tasks AG to start legislation on vigilantism
Accra, March 14, GNA - President Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo has instructed the Attorney General to
expediently put together and submit to Parliament
the specific legislation to deal with vigilantism
and to provide appropriate sanctions against its
occurrence.

The directive is in keeping with the Presidents
pronouncement to Parliament during the State of
the Nation Address in February.

During the Address he said he would initiate
legislation to end political violence and thuggery
if the main political parties did not voluntarily
disband their vigilante groupings.

The President called on the two main political
parties; the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP)
and the opposition National Democratic Congress
(NDC) to come together and dialogue to come up
with the appropriate measures to end vigilantism
in the body politic before it became part of the
political culture of the country.

This was in a statement issued on Thursday in
Accra and signed by the President, in response to
a letter written to him by the National Chairman
of the NDC, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, calling for
broader stakeholder consultation in the
disbandment of political party
‘militia’.

The President wrote: “Since the
constitutional responsibility of maintaining law
and order in our country is that of the Executive,
i.e. the President of the Republic, I have, in
line with my pronouncement to Parliament during
the Message on the State of the Nation on 21st
February, 2019, instructed the Attorney General,
without prejudice to the outcome of the
engagement, if any, between the NPP and NDC, to
prepare and submit to Parliament, as soon as
possible, specific legislation to deal with the
phenomenon of vigilantism, and provide appropriate
sanctions against its occurrence.”

“I believe that the Parliamentary process of
enactment affords sufficient space for any citizen
to make an input or contribution to the enactment
of a good and effective law, whose implementation
will enable us rid our nation of
politically-related violence, a development that
can only inure to the benefit of Ghanaian
democracy and the preservation of law and
order.”

Mr Ampofo had, in the communication, said that
though the NDC was ‘encouraged’ by
the President’s desire to achieve a
peaceful, constructive environment for politics
free from all forms of political violence, there
were issues that demanded urgent attention.

He said among them is a documentary that was
produced by Manasseh Azure Awuni, a Journalist,
alleging that a government sponsored militia group
had been training at the former seat of
Government, the Castle, Osu.

The Government has since denied the allegations
contained in the documentary and has petitioned
the National Media Commission (NMC) to investigate
the recent video documentary titled ‘Militia
in the Heart of the Nation,’ seeking, among
other things, an order for the retraction of and
an apology to the Government of Ghana on the
contents of the said documentary.

President Nana Akufo-Addo had earlier in the month
responded to a letter by the NDC, restating his
determination to end violence, and assured the NDC
that he did not need and had no plans to recruit
thugs into the national security apparatus to
shore up his chances in the 2020 election as
alleged.

“Neither the New Patriotic Party nor I need
political party thugs to win the 2020
election.”

He said he saw no basis for a request to have
other political entities, the National Peace
Council, international bodies as well as a myriad
of stakeholders take part in the dialogue between
the NPP and NDC to fix a common problem.

The President said the issue of vigilantism was
associated with the NDC and the NPP and they alone
should find a way to stem the tide of violence in
politics.

Source - GNA

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