Vigilante Groups Are "Terrorists" . . . We Will Crush Them Like Armed Robbers - Police Service

The Ghana Police Service has declared war on vigilante groups in the country. According to the Police Administration, vigilante groups are "criminal groups" and so, the security service as part of measures to maintain peace will not spare them. The Director of Operations of the Ghana Police Service, Dr. Benjamin Agordzo disclosed at a National Stakeholder forum on Election 2016. The forum was organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) at the Ambassador Birgit Storgaard Dialogue Center in Accra to deliberate on the November 7 general elections. The Director of Operations, Dr. Benjamin Agordzo told the gathering that the Police have held series of meetings with political parties and leaders of the various vigilante groups in the nation and found out that the activities of the groups cause fear and panic to the society. He also noted that the political parties have disassociated themselves from the vigilante groups, hence without mincing words described the groups as "terrorist" groups. “Interestingly, we have spoken to most political leaders…from all the political divide and we’ve spoken to even the vigilante group members and their leaders (most of which you know already); interestingly though the vigilante groups declared support for certain political parties, the said political parties disassociated themselves from the activities of the vigilante groups. “The Police have since then not mince words to declare that the vigilante groups are illegal. They are criminal groups that are masquerading as supporters of political parties and to the extent that they cause panic and fear, we could even describe them as terrorists. And we are ready to crush them if they are not disbanded…And we are going to deal with them as such." He revealed the treatment agreed upon by the Police Service which is directed at disbanding the vigilante groups, saying "the way we deal with armed robbers, the way we deal with any criminal group is the way we are going to deal with vigilante groups. They are enemies of our democracy and we must get rid of them so that we can move on.”

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana