Party security is not a militia – Abotsi defends the Commission short

General News of Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-03-19

Former Secretary of the Commission of Inquiry into Electoral Violence in Ayawaso West Wuogon, Ernest Kofi Abotsi justified the use by the Commission of "militia" to describe security groups badociated with political parties.

"The reality is that the Commission, having listened to the testimonies, acknowledged that the appropriate term to use was" militia "and not" militant, "Mr. Abotsi said on Monday at the PM Express issue of Joy News.

NPP organizer Sammi Awuku recently criticized Joy News's latest documentary, "The Militia in the Heart of the Nation," which unmasked De-Eye, an NPP-affiliated militia, operating from Christiansborg in Osu.

According to Mr. Awuku, the description of the group, De-Eye, as a militia was inappropriate.

Similarly, the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who had filed a complaint with Joy News with the National Media Commission, said: "Nothing in the disputed documentary shows any activity of the said company. on the sidelines of a militia exercise. "

However, Mr. Abotsi, former Dean of the GIMPA Law School, noted that the usual vigilante groups generally stay away and that they only manifest themselves when state security is concerned. fails to protect their interests. which is a direct opposite of what currently persists.

"The vigilante groups basically have a complementary character [but] these groups oppose … therefore, this fundamental characteristic of vigilance in this regard, I think these groups fail, "he said.

Mr. Abotsi added: "As far as the militia is concerned, I think that these groups, at least, are moving in this direction. [and] at worst, many of them have crossed this threshold and are already militias. "

Recognizing that these self-defense groups might have started with good ideas and good ideas for defending the interests of their parties when the police stood aside, the private lawyer said that "we have a good time." Neither could one ignore the fact that one or the other of these groups arms level.

Therefore, he said that calling such groups militias would be the appropriate way to address the problem in question, referring to the recent shooting and murder of a militant of the NDC at the party's Ashanti party regional office by a member of the "Hawks", an NDC – group of guards affiliated in the region.

"I think that the right language, when used strategically and properly deployed, can produce fundamental results," he said, pointing out that the groups are "more and more emboldened and They see themselves more and more fat than justices.

"They will not wait until there is a failure, they will act and they will challenge and they will oppose, in many ways, the authority of the state."