“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Martin Luther King Jr.
Apart from the fact that this is one of my favourite quotes, the government has come under severe pressure to as a matter of urgency disband all identifiable militias springing up in the political circles of the country and if possible, make the forming of Militias unattractive for its members, recruiters and sponsors.
This indicates that there is a general realization of an imminent threat posed by vigilantism to the security architecture of the state.
In the month of February this year, the Police identified not less than 10 vigilantes associated with political parties, mostly the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the main opposition party and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the incumbent party in government.
The Head of Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research at Kofi Anan International Peacekeeping Training Center (KAIPTC), Dr. Kwesi Aning, in his evidence before the Commission also identified 24 of these groups.
We refer to them as political vigilantes until other names such as private militias and warlordism emerged from the ongoing Ayawaso West Wuogon (AWW) Commission of inquiry, which I believe equally describes these groupings perfectly.
However, legislation in place will be well appreciated in providing a common terminology to describe the unlawful existence of these unions.
For the first time and for some reasons, I sense an end to this bane by the kind of passionate determination and firm declarations by leading personalities and institutions such as the President, the inspector- General of Police (IGP), the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), the academia, political activists, civil society groups, religious bodies and certainly the media as the drive. This, to some extent, supports the adage that in every negativity, there is an element of positivism.
Frantic efforts in ending this nuisance have been witnessed after the AWW violence. First was the setting up of a Commission of Inquiry with eminent composition. As usual, some people initially criticized its membership, however, with barely three weeks gone many are appreciating the wisdom behind its set up. If your guess is good as mine, many are in high expectation for the final report and, of course, its recommendations to shape our security sector.
Secondly, was the let’s “mobilize to demobilize” call by the President during his state of the nation’s address is welcome. If this is anything to go by, these unlawful groups were formed, empowered and resourced within political parties and it will not be out
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By: Effia Tenge | citinewsroom.com | Ghana
The post Effia Tenge writes: We can end the militias but … appeared first on Citi Newsroom.
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