I am colour blind – Akufo-Addo warns vigilante groups

According to him, he’ll make sure the Vigilantism Law works effectively and does not become mere paperwork.

President Akufo-Addo made this known on Wednesday while on a two-day tour in the Talensi Constituency in the Upper East Region.

While addressing a durbar of chiefs and people of Nangodi in the Nabdam District said, “It is not going to be a law just on paper. It will be acted upon if anybody tries to breach the law. And I am saying this and I have said to the security agencies and the IGP and the top hierarchy of the police that as far as the vigilante law is concerned, I am colour-blind.”

Late last year, Parliament passed the Vigilantism and Related Offences Act, 2019.

The purpose of the law is to disband all vigilante groups in the country, including the politically affiliated ones.

It states that a person who directly or indirectly instigates or solicits the activity of a vigilante, facilitates or encourages vigilantism or conceals a vigilante to avoid lawful arrest commits an offence, and is liable, on conviction, to a term of imprisonment of not less than 10 years and not more than 15 years.