15 criminal gangs identified with parties

IGP Patrick Acheampong; Ghanaians would be counting on the police for a violent-free election

About 15 gangs engaged in criminal activities across the country are said to be affiliated to some unnamed political parties.

Dr. Emmanuel Kwesi Annin, a research fellow at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, who disclosed this on Front Page, Joy FM's Current Affairs Programme on Friday, said those parties are “well aware” of the groups' activities but remained because such activities inure to their benefit.

Although he refrained from naming the parties involved, he promised to furnish the police with the names of the groups and their affiliate parties.

He said the presence of 'machomen' in the Ghanaian society is problematic.

In the north for instance, he said, there are well know “core criminal gangs” which conduct their nefarious deals with disregard to authority.

“In the work that the CDD has done in the north, a lot of these young men have basically threatened the policemen and have said 'we know you cannot do much because we are supported.'

“They are affiliated to political parties in which the regional chairman of a particular party leads one of these gangs and the gangs actually bear his name.”

Dr. Annin also called for the review of Act 526 (1996) of the Intelligence and Security Service Act, which mandates District Chief Executives and Regional Ministers to chair district and regional security committee respectively.

He noted that there would be a conflict of interest in the case where the District Chief Executive contests an election.

DSP Kwesi Ofori, Police Public Relations Officer, reiterated that the police would not countenance activities of so-called macho-men who may attempt to disrupt election procedure.

“We have advised the political parties to disengage the services of those private criminal gangs for, should we get them in action, definitely we are going to investigate them and prosecute them according to the law.”

DSP Ofori said the police would be on top of issues on the election day to ensure that Ghana observes another peaceful polls.

“We are going to be professional, neutral and engage all the groups equally and deliver…that is why we have even asked our personnel not to take food or gift from any of the political parties.”

He said the police have been able to wage wars on such gangs before and would be able to conquer them again.

He said about 1, 300 flash points have been identified. “We never name them, but operationally, armed men are seriously in contact with those communities to neutralise them all over the country.”

He mentioned chieftaincy disputes, land disputes and areas traditionally known to be trouble zones - places with anti-social activities, inter-party clashes, and intra-party clashes – as some indicators of flash points.

Story by Isaac Essel