Security-Health Nexus: Why it must never be Politicized along Partisan lines

Rev. Msgr. Prof. Stephen Ntim  

Media reports for the last couple of weeks have focused on two key issues of social protection. These are security and health: the so-called ‘vigilante’ groups and the issue of ‘galamsey’. The two are inextricably linked and cannot be separated from each other. They both have far reaching consequences for our livelihood.

We cannot live in a nation where there is lawlessness. Justice is undermined when we refuse to stand up for what is right. Collectively, if we fail to fight lawlessness before it rears its ugly head, it continues to prevail.

We all have a duty to establish the truth and the beauty of law and order before they become foreign to us. Freedom is never absolute. It is always constrained by responsibility.

Consequently, in a democratic dispensation such as ours, there can be nothing like an unbridled freedom, where some groups are alleged (if media reports are anything to go by) to take the laws into their hands even in a court of competent jurisdiction.

These so-called vigilante groups are associated with the two leading political parties in the country, the governing NPP and the opposition NDC.

Threats to national security

Last year, when the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) conducted its Survey on these groups, the findings were that almost seven out of every 10 respondents who participated in the Survey linked them to the NDC, while 18 percent associated them with the NPP.

The two political parties can apportion blame on each other when one is in government and the other is in opposition, but the reality is that both are implicated- and Ghanaians are never enthused by the proliferation of these groups. They are perceived as threats to national security.

There are so many of them such as Azorka Boys, Bolga Bull Dogs, Invincible Forces, Bamba Boys and the Kandahar Boys. Other groups identified include Aluta Boys, Nima Boys, Salifu Eleven, Zongo Caucus, Veranda Boys, Supreme, Mahama Boys, Delta Force, Badariba, Basuka Boys, Bindiriba and so on.

Irrespective of which political party that these groups are presumed to be linked to, a large majority of Ghanaians (63 percent) perceive their activities as counter-productive to our democracy and a fundamental risk to national peace. Their presence creates parallel security forces in addition to the recognized national security apparatus constitutionally mandated to protect the citizens and their property.

Vigilante groups and our political history

Some of our compatriots who have lived much longer and seen many more things in their life time inform us that the origin of these vigilante groups in Ghana goes back as early as the pre-independence era between the right wing and the left wing politicians, the main political party at the time the CPP and the UP- the ‘mate me ho political party. Vigilante groups of these two parties tortured and maimed each other.

The reason for which these groups were formed at the time- and now as well- is mainly the mistrust these parties had and continue to have for the political process. When there is serious mistrust and apprehensions of state institutions, constitutionally set up to provide security for all citizens, it can lead to such unfortunate development. For example, if our security forces such as the Police, the Electoral Commission, and other state institutions create the slightest impression of allegiance to the government of the day, rather than their statutory mandate to protect all Ghanaians, political parties feel compelled to set up their own security to protect their political interests and their candidates.

In fact, historically among the Akans generally, but especially the Ashantis, they always have the “wirempefo” whose main duty was to protect (for example in the case of the Ashantis) the Golden Stool from being taken by usurpers- the British colonial government which fought over six bloody wars with the Ashanti’s and destroyed Kumasi severally from 1874 through to the 1900’s, but never succeeded in taking the Golden Stool! Other cultures and tribes have similar groups performing similar functions of protection and security.