Sissala West District - Another incident of vigilantism in Ghana

Did I just read that a certain District Chief Executive (DCE) of this country was on October 26th, 2017 thrown out of his office by some apoplectic cohorts? That the DCE in question is the DCE for Sissala West Constituency, Hon Mohammed Borkor? And that he was accused of dishonestly appointing his crony to the position of the Masloc coordinator? Indeed, any country which cannot learn from its booboo is only destined to fail.

Truly, provided my memory has today awarded me a holiday off deception, I can vividly recollect that on October 28th, 2014 some irate youth of the District so mentioned above, ransacked the office of the then DCE, Hon Moses Luri whilst antipathetically accusing him of indulging in corruption and not in any form expediting development of the District.

In fact, for record sake, citifmonline which reported the incident noted unequivocally that not even the timely intervention of the palace of the traditional ruler of Gwollu could save the fleeing States-servant from the raging youth of the District on this day. As if that incident wasn’t enough destruction for the good people of the Sissala West District to learn from, the current incident of vigilantism was born. And so sometimes I wonder, I wonder if really we are the peaceful democratic state we purport to be.

One thing we lack as a country from the very onset of our democratic dispensation is UNITY. Let me state it here and emphatically, that the central mechanism to the development of every country is UNITY. The truism is that, Ghana’s democracy is a two-party democracy where the face of government is only changed each year (subjectively my stance).

One might have thought then, that there would be only two factions in this country with regards to political party ideologies. Sad to reveal, this has not been the case. It so happens to be that there are even further factions within these political parties. Unfortunately, many others have not realised that this is the one and major cause of vigilantism in our country.

Now let me bring to you very palpable examples from the two cases of Vigilantism recently recorded in the District under deliberation. According to a more credible source, in 2014, when the DCE was interviewed about the actions taken against him by the youth, he responded without mincing words that He believes the MP for the area was the architect of the uproar against him. His reason been that, the MP didn’t want him to be in a good position of contesting him in the next Political Party Primaries.

In fact, only two (2) days ago when one of such incidents unravelled again in this same District, the DCE, Mohammed Borkor also blamed his Party Chairman, the Sissala West Constituency Party Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party for championing the course.

Certainly, the least I may beseech of you as a citizen of this country is your total consent to accept that indeed the factions between these political parties are actually the prime cause of vigilantism in our country. However, I would use this medium to call on the law enforcement agencies to (in spite of the quagmires they find themselves) thrive tirelessly to ensure that the Law is well interpreted when people choose to take it into their own hands.

I believe that this would serve as a deterrent to others who would also want to partake of some of such actions. Undoubtedly, the recent failing standards of the law enforcement agencies to punish the perpetrators of these crimes is what has called for more and more of them. And even when the untimely murder of a God fearing Soldier visited our struggling country, we have so soon forgotten that there are laid down procedures to doing things in our democracy. Indeed, Democracy could be the best tool when judiciously interpreted but also the worst beast when wrongly interpreted or misinterpreted.

I stand for an independent Judiciary regardless of the lacuna in our constitution. Verily, in no day at all must the law be compromised to favour our relatives. Only when we crave the jungle shall we act unjustly and without reverence to the law.

#Say No to Vigilantism

For God, Country and Nation