LECTURERS SUPPORT CAMPAIGN AGAINST VIGILANTISM
Lecturers at the University of Ghana have joined the campaign against vigilantism aimed at uniting the public towards violence free elections in Ghana and across the African continent.
Speaking at the event at the graduate campus of the university of Ghana Business School, Dr. Daniel Appiah, a public sector management specialist, called on political elites and governance experts to innovate an inclusive system of government that would sustain the country’s political stability and economic development.
According to Dr. Appiah the increasing level of political vigilantism across the country is a logical consequences of the winner-takes-all politics. He cautioned civil society groups against the advocacy for the transformation of the non-partisan local government system at the district level into another winner-takes-all system at the local level.
He observed that since the 1992 general elections, the losing political parties obtain over 40% of the valid votes but the ideas and interests of their political elites and followers are ignored by the ruling parties. Dr. Appiah also pointed out that the winner-takes-all system of multi-party democracy should be reconsidered because it was not used by developed countries during their transitions from the stage of developing countries to industrialized countries.
On his part, Professor Justice Nyigmah Bawole the Head of Department for Public Administration and Health Services Management pointed that "we expect young people to put their energies in building this country in a way that we would be able to live peacefully in the country," and so any initiative that seeks to bring people together especially young people to stand up for their rights need to be embraced by all.
Prof. Bawole called on all political parties to be part of the sensitization initiative against vigilantism. He advised that politician’s should deal with disagreements according to the laws of the land and not to resort to the use of violence .Professor Bawole stressed that any action that would destroy the peace of Ghana must be stopped in a way that can bring people together.
Mrs Irene Baah Asare, a children’s-right activist and Master of Public Administration Student called on religious, political and traditional leaders, and especially the youth, to join hands in the fight against political vigilantism in the sense that the political instability being witnessed across different Africa countries is not far from Ghana, a country which has been labelled as "the beacon of Africa’s democracy. ‘’
She stressed that, we may have different political backgrounds but we all belong to one country and race, and we should uphold what has made Ghana an enviable attraction to the outside world.
Dr. Thomas Buabeng, a Lecturer in the Department of Public Administration and Health Services Management, called on citizens not to destroy what our forefathers have tirelessly sacrificed for this nation. He added that if we can’t maintain what our forefathers bequeathed to us, we shouldn’t destroy it through vigilantism.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Humanity Magazine International, Mr.Yahaya Alhassan who is the organizer of the 'Say No-To-Vigilantism' sensitization program, called on Ghanaian youth particularly in the Zongo communities to stand up against vigilantism. As part of his endeavour to ensure vigilantism free Ghana, Humanity Magazine International is organizing a symbolic unity football match between Kumasi Zongo and Accra Zongo on 16th June at Wembley Park in Kotobaabi, a surburb in Accra. He called on the public to patronize the football match.
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