Violent behaviours of political party foot soldiers in parts of Ghana
The time has come for unruly party foot soldiers to be tamed. Quite naturally and justifiably, many well-meaning Ghanaians are disgusted about the fines imposed on the members of the Delta Force, a foot-soldiering group associated with the NPP, whose members took the law into their own hands in Kumasi and physically assaulted a public officer who they thought did not merit an appointment. They further caused mayhem at a Kumasi Circuit Court where they assisted other members to escape from lawful custody.
Indeed, the fine may appear not deterrent enough in the face of the brazen effrontery with which they carried out their criminal activities. But the fact that they went through the court process, were charged, tried and fine, make them ex-convicts. Situate that against the situation in December 2008, during the general election when some bandits attacked some polling stations in Akwatia and carried away ballot boxes. A number of the bandits were arrested and put on trial. They were remanded and detained in police custody. As soon as the new government took office in January 2009, the case was brought to an end. Many such incidents could be recounted across the regions, under the NDC and NPP administrations, where public property including vehicles belonging to district assemblies, were vandalized because foot soldiers of the parties disagreed with appointments to district chief executive positions.
Whilst these are inglorious chapters in our political history, measuring the extent to which governments are prepared to acquiesce over misguided, violent and indeed fanatical conduct of their party supporters, the trial of the Delta Force miscreants marks a watershed that at least we are beginning to awaken to our obligation to protect and defend the Constitution by being impartial and enforcing the provisions that none is above the law.
In recent times, the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ms Afisa Otiko Djaba, seems to have come under attacks and threats from a group of unruly youth in the Tamale metropolis who have on countless times threatened to undermine and disrupt the School Feeding Programme in the area, allegedly claiming that she did not follow what they consider to be their preferred path in the selection of providers of the service and coordinators merely because their preferred persons were not appointed. It is unfortunate that the police have not arrested such persons and are claiming that they have no knowledge of the threats.
The last straw that broke the camel’s back, is media reports of Karaga NPP supporters going on rampage and attacking the Karaga Police Station and freeing two of their colleagues from lawful custody. They also chased out the District Chief Executive as well as the District Coordinator of the Youth Employment Agency, YEA and locked up their offices. They went further to burn the official motorbike of the YEA coordinator. They alleged that the DCE and the YEA coordinator have sidelined them in the scheme of things. It has become imperative that we work to uproot the lawlessness and impunity of the ‘so-called’ party fanatics who take the law into their hands.
The tendency where public officials are blackmailed or prevented from discharging their responsibilities by ordinary citizens parading as foot soldiers must be stopped and dealt with firmly and decisively. It is such unpunished acts that encourage others to tow the same line. These recalcitrant people do not have the mandate of anybody but assume self-importance because they are party supporters whose party is in government. We must resist impunity and lawlessness. We have pampered these deviants for far too long in the name of partisan politics.
As the renowned U.S. Civil Rights advocate Martin Luther King once said, “An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Violence in the name of political party support is evil and must be fought fearlessly.
By Dan Osman Mwin, Head of Public Relations, Ministry of Education.
Indeed, the fine may appear not deterrent enough in the face of the brazen effrontery with which they carried out their criminal activities. But the fact that they went through the court process, were charged, tried and fine, make them ex-convicts. Situate that against the situation in December 2008, during the general election when some bandits attacked some polling stations in Akwatia and carried away ballot boxes. A number of the bandits were arrested and put on trial. They were remanded and detained in police custody. As soon as the new government took office in January 2009, the case was brought to an end. Many such incidents could be recounted across the regions, under the NDC and NPP administrations, where public property including vehicles belonging to district assemblies, were vandalized because foot soldiers of the parties disagreed with appointments to district chief executive positions.
Whilst these are inglorious chapters in our political history, measuring the extent to which governments are prepared to acquiesce over misguided, violent and indeed fanatical conduct of their party supporters, the trial of the Delta Force miscreants marks a watershed that at least we are beginning to awaken to our obligation to protect and defend the Constitution by being impartial and enforcing the provisions that none is above the law.
In recent times, the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ms Afisa Otiko Djaba, seems to have come under attacks and threats from a group of unruly youth in the Tamale metropolis who have on countless times threatened to undermine and disrupt the School Feeding Programme in the area, allegedly claiming that she did not follow what they consider to be their preferred path in the selection of providers of the service and coordinators merely because their preferred persons were not appointed. It is unfortunate that the police have not arrested such persons and are claiming that they have no knowledge of the threats.
The last straw that broke the camel’s back, is media reports of Karaga NPP supporters going on rampage and attacking the Karaga Police Station and freeing two of their colleagues from lawful custody. They also chased out the District Chief Executive as well as the District Coordinator of the Youth Employment Agency, YEA and locked up their offices. They went further to burn the official motorbike of the YEA coordinator. They alleged that the DCE and the YEA coordinator have sidelined them in the scheme of things. It has become imperative that we work to uproot the lawlessness and impunity of the ‘so-called’ party fanatics who take the law into their hands.
The tendency where public officials are blackmailed or prevented from discharging their responsibilities by ordinary citizens parading as foot soldiers must be stopped and dealt with firmly and decisively. It is such unpunished acts that encourage others to tow the same line. These recalcitrant people do not have the mandate of anybody but assume self-importance because they are party supporters whose party is in government. We must resist impunity and lawlessness. We have pampered these deviants for far too long in the name of partisan politics.
As the renowned U.S. Civil Rights advocate Martin Luther King once said, “An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Violence in the name of political party support is evil and must be fought fearlessly.
By Dan Osman Mwin, Head of Public Relations, Ministry of Education.
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