Mr Ambrose Dery, Minister for the Interior
INTERIOR Minister, Ambrose Dery, has sounded the alarm bell that Ghana could be “consumed” if vigilantism was not nipped in the bud immediately.
Vigilantism, Mr Dery, MP for Nandom, said was a threat to the survival of the country and that a national discourse was needed to address same before it went out of control.
“If we joke, it [vigilantism] will engulf us,” he warned.
“Boko Haram started as a vigilante group and therefore we should dedicate ourselves to make sure that vigilantism is totally eliminated,” Mr Dery stressed.
He was speaking in an interview with parliamentary reporters in Accra yesterday in reaction to the shooting incident in Kumasi on Monday.
Two members of the National Democratic Congress were allegedly shot by unknown gunmen at the entrance of the party’s office in Kumasi on Monday.
One of the men was pronounced dead on arrival at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital with the other responding to treatment.
Assuring of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s “unflinching” commitment to the disbandment of all vigilante groups in the country, Mr Ambrose Dery called on Ghanaians to support the police in disbanding all such groups.
“Do not shield anybody because that person is a relative. Well, if you shield him because the person he has killed is not your relative, someone else will kill you too because you are also not his relative.
“The enemy is impunity. The enemy is criminal offenses. The enemy is vigilantism so let us fight it together,” he stated.
Mr Dery called on persons who may have been affected by the shooting and killing incident in Kumasi to remain calm as the police hunt for the perpetrators of the crime.
“I entreat all those who feel victimised by that [Kumasi] incident to help the police investigate. Do not try to revenge because that in itself will be another form of vigilantism,” he said.
The Kumasi shooting, allegedly carried out by pro NDC group, the Hawks, Ambrose Dery said, should tell all that security was a collective responsibility and should not be a blame game.
“Let us not point fingers at each other trying to find who is involved and who is behind. The important thing is that there is an offense committed and we should all work together to bring the culprits to book and let the law take its course,” he said.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
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