Vigilantism creates bloc, divides people - Ameer Bin Salih warns

The Ameer and Missionary in charge of the Ghana Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, Maulvi Noor Mohammed Bin Salih, has decried the activities of vigilante groups in the country saying vigilantism always created a bloc which leads to divisions that kept people apart.

Adding his voice to calls for the disbandment of all political vigilante groups in the country, he said such groups were anti-social elements that separated people and for that matter should not be condoned in any aspect of the Ghanaian societal life.

“There has not been anywhere in the history of the world where vigilantism of whatever type has existed and has united the people. It always created a bloc which leads to divisions that kept people apart,” he stressed.

Militia groups

Maulvi Salih, who granted an interview to the Daily Graphic on the sideline of an Ahmadiyya Peace Conference held in Accra on Wednesday said it was unfortunate that the harmless creation of political wings in schools and communities that gave the youth vociferous political voice had now graduated into militia groups that used force to execute political will.

He questioned the security rationale behind the formation of such groups when the country was not in short supply of security personnel who could protect life and property.

A purported attack by the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP’s) vigilante group, the Delta Force on the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tafo Pankrono, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei during a meeting with party members, he noted, was an instance of concern for all Ghanaians.

“What those people who put up these vigilante groups don’t know is that, it starts very nice for them. But at the end of the day, they eat the sourest grape as fruit of vigilantism.

“If they (vigilante group) attack the politician who is in power today, it means that they have attacked the government of Ghana and that attack could destabilise the democratic governance of Ghana,” he stated.

NCCE

Following the development, the Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education, Ms Josephine Nkrumah at a recent news conference called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to disband vigilante groups in the country.

She also appealed to political parties to show commitment towards fighting what she described as a national crisis where people took the law into their own hands in the guise of political party vigilantism.