Vote against parties that harbour political vigilantes

General News of Tuesday, 26 May 2020

Source: Kwame Ofosu Asare, Contributor

2020-05-26

Click to read all about coronavirus →

The Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration ( GIMPA) chapter of the Graduate Students’ Association of Ghana (GRASAG) has urged the Ghanaian electorate to shun any political party that harbours vigilante groups within its fold at the December 7th 2020 polls.

According to the Association, by doing this, political parties in the country will have no option than to root out such groups from their fold.

In a commemorative statement in Accra on Monday to mark the African Union Day on the theme “The Africa We Want- Youth Silencing The Guns,” the graduate students’ group said political vigilantism must not be allowed to fester in the Ghanaian political space.

“With barely six months to Ghana’s December polls, we the graduate students call on all the people of Ghana to give the truest meaning to the AU theme by voting against all political parties with known vigilante groups.

“That will be the surest signal of our commitment to Kwame Nkrumah’s saying that ‘From now on there is a new African in the World,” the statement signed by the President of GRASAG-GIMPA, Mr. Raphael Apetorgbor read.

The association condemned the refusal of the major political parties in the country to implement the recommendations of the Ayawaso West Wuogon Bye-Election Commission which probed the gun violence that marred the January 31, 2019 by-election in that constituency.

Political thuggery, the Association noted is a sad reminder of the poor understanding of what partisan politics is intended to achieve.

It said as the AU turns 57, conscious efforts must be made at all levels – national, regional and continental – to bring to fruition what the continent’s forebears envisaged when they formed the union.

“The years of political struggle are over, but the battle to emancipate ourselves against mental slavery continuous unabated,” the statement by GRASAG-GIMPA stressed.