The day political vigilante groups of the two main political parties in Ghana realize they are being used for self-serving purposes and join forces to demand their pound of flesh will be the day the country gets plunged into mayhem, Andrew Awuni, Executive Director of the Centre for Freedom and Accuracy, has warned.
There have been about 20 vigilante attacks from groups affiliated to the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) since it won the December 2016 elections.
The situation has been festering desperate calls on the President and law enforcement agencies to act. Mr Awuni is of the belief that vigilante groups resort to violence when they feel betrayed by their parties after election victories.
Speaking on the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class 91.3FM on Thursday, 2 November, Mr Awuni, a former spokesperson of former President John Agyekum Kufuor, said: “When a political party is in opposition, they don’t have the protection of the state security and so then, they are forced to look for their own security. When you are in opposition you don’t have the protection, and, so, you begin to mobilize young people to play that role.
“When you come into power now, all of a sudden, you have the police and you have the military and now you don’t need the vigilante people.
“We saw it with the NDC. When the NDC was in opposition we all heard a particular group called the Azorka Boys and they were very powerful. They got into power and they had the state security so the opposition then begins to mobilise its own security,” Mr Awuni said.
He continued: “Now the opposition NPP has come into power, they also now have the state security and the NDC now in opposition doesn’t have state security.
“I am saying that along the line, these boys, whether NDC or NPP, will find a common ground and when they find common ground, that spring will come, and, so, something has to be done and done now.”
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