General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia says the lack of political will on the part of President Akufo-Addo to enforce the vigilantism law passed a year ago after the volatile incident recorded during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election does not come as a surprise.
To him, it is largely because “Papa no” [to wit, that man, in twi referring to President Akufo-Addo) who was supposed to ensure the implementation of the law is violence-personified and is happily living up to his infamous “all-die-be-die” mantra.
“Nothing happened to the minister and those illegal forces who caused the mayhem….pressure from the masses forced Akufo-Addo government to set up a Short Commission to delve into the matter and bring the perpetrators to book but I said that it was not going to work because I have known Akufo-Addo from childhood to be someone who supports and encourages violence”, he went hard at the President.
Speaking on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show with Kwame Nkrumah Tikese, Asiedu Nketia said he was convinced after the passage of the Vigilantism Bill, nothing was going to be done to those who openly confessed to having masterminded the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence.
“It is one year already since the passage of the vigilantism bill and nothing has been done to those who caused the chaotic incident and maimed innocent people who had gone out to vote”, he stated.
Recounting how the Akufo-Addo government refuse to buy into his idea of involving the National Peace Council, Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Training Institute, Civil Society Groups, Judges, the Police, and government officials in finding a lasting solution to vigilantism in the country, the NDC General Secretary said, he is not therefore surprised that a Ghanaian was stabbed to death under Akufo-Addo’s watch during voter registration exercise.
“I was of the view that if we collectively discuss the issue, we would be able to identify the cause of the rising vigilantism in the country and able to find out why we are unable to resolve the vigilantism but when I made this suggestion, the government did not budge and the President said he knows what is good for the country and so he passed the vigilantism law with his majority in Parliament”, he asserted.
“I said that I know that man [papa no] but people did not believe me and said we should forget about it and this is what we see today. Ask yourself since a year ago that he appended his signature to the passage of the vigilantism bill to eradicate vigilantism from the country, has the vigilantism gone or is there and or it has been eradicated from the country?”
