Vigilantism And The Akuffo-Addo's Style

Organized groups of citizens within political parties in Ghana from time to time take the law of the country into their own hands, as by preventing or avenging a crime, especially because, they do not think that official organizations, such as the police are controlling crime effectively. The so-called vigilante groups act violently and summarily, without recourse to lawful procedures .

Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo-Addo was a human right activist and was the first Chairperson of the Ghana Committee on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Akufo-Addo has for many years used his law practice to champion the cause of human rights, rule of law, justice, freedom, and democracy. He was well known for giving free legal assistance to the poor and fought for the rights and liberties of the Ghanaian people. Indeed, many of the important constitutional cases of the modern era, which, inter alia, protected the independence of the judiciary and the right of the citizen to demonstrate without police permit, were undertaken by him (https://www.ghpage.com/need-know-akufo-addocareer-family/439/).

The man Akuffo-Addo believes in the institutions of the land, campaigned for the independence of stronger institutions to function without the influence of strong men in authority and people in leadership. He has been very consistent in his opposition against interference of authority in the functions of state institutions.

Akuffo-Addo as the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party(NPP) refused to heed to numerous calls on him to interfere in his party’s internal crisis. At the time, when there was a seemingly “civil war” in his party, he refused to interfere, but as a matter of principle and consistency, asked his party’s structures to function according to the constitution of the party. Such is the character and belief of the man, who although has the power and authority of the state by virtue of his ascension to the high office of president has remained unchanged. Interfering with state institutions and laid down structures is simply not his style.

Many are calling on president Akuffo-Addo to intervene and stop the vigilantism and his answer is not surprising. He has asked the law enforcement agencies and law courts in the country to arrest and prosecute unlawful citizens without fear or favor. Vigilantism has been in the country before president Akuffo-Addo became the first gentleman of the land and if these unlawful citizens are not arrested and prosecuted by the police in the law courts, the canker would be with us even after the exit of Akuffo-Addo. As the late president Mills put it, he is not the policeman to cause any citizen’s arrest. Akuffo-Addo with all powers invested him has given his full blessing to the police publicly to arrest and deal with these so-called vigilante groups, who act violently and summarily, without recourse to lawful procedures. Let us not deceive ourselves, he would not go beyond this. If he did not interfere with his party structures as presidential candidate, do you think he would interfere with the state institutions as a president?

By being citizens and not spectators, let us all mount pressure on the Ghana Police Service to be responsible with regards to the perennial vigilantism in our country. Let us all discuss unlawfulness in the right perspective. Political crime is crime. Chieftaincy crime is crime. Domestic/family violence is a crime. If it happens in a church, mosque or in a shrine, it is still a crime.

It is never Akuffo-Addo’s style to interfere with security agencies’ work, so let us all arise and direct our anger towards the appropriate quarters for a timely intervention to the vigilantism in our country.

Eben Johnson – Finland
(Letters without signatures)