National Organizer of the New Patriotic Party ( NPP), Sammy Awuku, has cast doubts on promises by some political players to disband political vigilante groups.
Mr Sammy Awuku was addressing a forum Organised by the Let My Vote Count Alliance on Vigilantism and Vigilance, where he said, political parties had only paid lip service to the problem.
“As a country, we have all failed in helping to nip this issue [of vigilantism] in the bud and vice versa,” Mr. Awuku maintained.
The vigilante groups are purportedly formed to provide security for the political parties especially protecting ballots during elections.
But these groups have been party to activities some consider criminal, notably, the assault on the Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator and the subsequent raiding of a court by some members of the NPP affiliated group, Delta Force.
Some of these groups have also threatened instability if they are not provided with jobs by the government.
Most recently, Delta Force members launched an attack on the Member of Parliament for Old Tafo, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei over failed promises.
“For disbanding these groups, the political parties will only pay lip service because the NDC said they have disbanded Azorka [Boys] but you can’t disband Azorka in the night and form the hawks in the morning.”
“You don’t expect the NPP to disband the Invisible Forces at dawn and then form Bolga Bulldogs at dusk. So the political parties will then be playing games with you,” Mr. Awuku said.
Also speaking at the same forum, Security analyst Dr. Kwesi Aning, commented on the growing awareness of police brutalities, which has also emerged as a pressing security issue.
He said it was a testament of the ineffectiveness of the Police Council and the Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Interior.
Dr Kwesi Aning reiterated that, “The police council that plays the oversight role is fast asleep. It has been sleeping since Busia established it in 1970 and changed the name from a force to a service.”
“The problem that we have with policing in this country is so fundamentally dangerous that I am shocked that the police council is so quiet and that the Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Interior is even more comatose,” he added.
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This story modified from an external source (citifmonline)
