The Member of Parliament for the Gomoa West constituency in the Central Region, Alexander Abban has called on politicians and political parties to stop using vigilante groups.
According to him, vigilante groups do not guarantee election victory.
Speaking on Citi FM/ Citi TV’s news analysis show The Big Issue on Saturday, the MP said instead of putting unleashing political vigilante groups to cause mayhem, these individuals should rather be advised and instructed to campaign for their preferred candidates.
[contextly_sidebar id=”IbKdbMnGMvCZBufvi0zwec9tLh7NL432″]This comes on the back of the violence that characterized the by-election held in the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency.
“We need to look at these things very carefully. I think that the political parties do not need political vigilantes to win elections. You need foot soldiers to work and talk to people but you don’t need to put them together as a band of soldiers who are going to fight,” he said.
The Electoral Commission has also condemned the violence that characterized the by-election held in the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency with a call on political parties to take steps to disband their vigilante groups.
Speaking after an Inter-Party Advisory Committee [IPAC] meeting held last week, Head of Communication at the Electoral Commission, Mr. Eric Dzakpasu said the attacks at the residence of the National Democratic Congress’ candidate, Mr. Delali Kwesi Brempong, was unfortunate and condemnable.
Mr. Dzakpasu also chided the security of failing to handle the clashes at the La Bawaleshie polling centre in a professional manner.
Then EC also called on all political parties to work to “address the issues of vigilantism” within their parties to ensure future occurrences such as the violence recorded at Ayawaso West Wuogon becomes a thing of the past.
The EC’s Head of Communication also disclosed plans by the Commission to develop a committee to regulate activities of the political parties with regards to disbanding political vigilantism.
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By: Farida Yusif | citinewsroom.com | Ghana
