Political Vigilantism in Ghana: Na Who Cause Am?

On a normal day, a Vigilante is described as a member of a self-appointed group of citizens who undertake law enforcement in their community without legal authority, typically because the legal agencies are thought to be inadequate.

In post-independent Ghana, even though there had been some recognized groups that could be described as such, the first such word was appropriately used in 1980, when under the Third Republic, President Hilla Liman, formed vigilantes to check the smuggling of cocoa and other items across our borders.

However, the functions of vigilantes took a different dimension under the Fourth Republic as their roles became strictly political. Starting with what was then known in the 1990s as the Azorka Boys of the then ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), they carried horse whips and other weapons at political ceremonies and attacked people as directed by their paymasters.

Within the NDC, they attacked and beat up people like Dr. Obed Asamoah, Ms. Francess Assiam, supporters of Dr. Kwesi Botchway, and many others; and occasionally extended same to other political parties.

All this while, the other parties, including the New Patriotic Party, though not happy with the situation, tried to contain it, until things got out of hand after the 2008 general elections.

Today, with the proliferation of more vigilante groups, the NPP can boast of the Invincible Forces, Delta Forces, Bolga Bulldogs, Kandahar Boys, Volta Crocodiles, and so on. The NDC currently has the Azorka Boys, Hawks, Eagles, Lions, Dragons, etc.

The million dollar question therefore is: To whom to we apportion blame for this unfortunate development, considering the fact that these vigilantes function mostly before and after elections?

Even though many people have tried to blame the police and other security forces for non-performance, THE PUBLISHER thinks these groups were ‘practically endorsed’ by the armchair posture of the then Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, who had on several occasions called on political parties to PROTECT BALLOT BOXES on election days.

Instead of deterring the youth from meddling in security at elections, Afari-Gyan shifted that vital responsibility to political parties, stressing that elections are won or lost at the polling station.

He would accept any result sent to his office, signed or unsigned by the parties, or whether or not there was evidence that people were attacked, maimed, or chased away from polling stations. Even clear cases of over-voting were accepted and declared by the Electoral Commission (EC) under his watch.

For instance, when during the December 28, 2008 presidential run off, Dr. Sammy Ohene, NPP agent for some electoral areas in Ho West Constituency was attacked, beaten with blood dripping from his eye, and chased into the bush by NDC thugs, Afari-Gyan told the whole nation that it was a criminal matter that had nothing to do with the EC. In fact, not even pictorial and video evidences would stop him from declaring the results from those polling stations. The same was replicated in the Akwatia and Chereponi by-elections and other places.

These were the bitter lessons that compelled the NPP to come up with vigilante groups in subsequent elections.

In the view of THE PUBLISHER, political parties will continue to rely on vigilantes for as long as the EC also continues to shirk its responsibilities, and asks political parties to protect ballot boxes.  Only the EC, we think, can make political vigilante groups feel unneeded in our elections.

A problem well defined, they say, is half solved.