Ghana Must Prevent Political Vigilantism From Returning in New Forms – National Security

The National Security Council Secretariat has called for renewed and coordinated efforts to prevent political vigilantism from undermining Ghana’s democracy, warning that organised political intimidation and violence remain a threat to national security and public confidence.

Speaking at a National Policy Dialogue on “Assessing the Implementation of the Vigilantism and Related Offences Act, 2019 (Act 999) and Its Implications for National Security and Democratic Governance,” the Chief of Staff, Dr Julius Debrah, stressed that protecting Ghana’s democracy was a shared responsibility involving state institutions, political parties, security agencies, traditional and religious leaders, civil society organisations, the media and citizens.

The event brought together the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Dr Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, NDC Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketia, ministers of state, Members of Parliament, members of the Judiciary, diplomats, traditional and religious leaders, security and intelligence officials, political party representatives, civil society organisations and youth groups.

Dr Debrah said the presence of the various stakeholders demonstrated that the protection of Ghana's democratic stability could not be left to a single institution or political ideology.

The protection of our democracy is not the responsibility of just one institution, political ideology, sector or individual.”

He said all stakeholders had a collective responsibility to ensure that political competition did not degenerate into organised intimidation or violence against citizens.

The Vigilantism and Related Offences Act, 2019 (Act 999), was enacted to disband vigilante groups, including political party vigilante groups and land guards, prohibit acts of vigilantism and provide for related offences.

The law applies to acts or threats of violence or intimidation undertaken to advance the interests of individuals associated with political parties, political office holders, landowners, real estate developers, public office holders, mining activities and other persons involved in vigilantism.

Dr Debrah noted that political vigilantism in Ghana had historical roots dating back to the 1950s, with informal party task forces gradually evolving into organised groups with uniforms, command structures and, in some instances, weapons.

What initially emerged as youth mobilisation for political visibility, he said, eventually developed into activities capable of intimidating political opponents, disrupting electoral processes and challenging the authority of the state.

“Election violence is not a routine law-and-order inconvenience,” he stressed, arguing that it undermines confidence in democratic transfers of power, erodes trust in state institutions and threatens social cohesion.

He emphasised that under Ghana's 1992 Constitution, the authority to organise and deploy state security forces rests with the state.

Consequently, any group that assumes coercive powers outside the constitutional framework — including guarding ballot boxes, conducting armed patrols, seizing property, detaining people or intimidating communities — constitutes a direct challenge to lawful state authority.

According to Dr Debrah, Act 999 represented a bipartisan acknowledgement that political vigilantism posed a threat to Ghana regardless of political affiliation.

The law, he explained, did not seek to prevent peaceful political youth mobilisation but prohibited the creation, organisation, recruitment, training, arming, funding and support of groups established for political acts of vigilantism.

He commended political parties that had increasingly entrusted the protection of their internal elections and primaries to the Ghana Police Service, saying the confidence placed in professional security institutions was important to strengthening democratic processes.

Seven years after the enactment of Act 999, Dr Debrah said Ghana had made progress in reducing the visibility of organised vigilante groups, but warned against interpreting this as the complete eradication of political vigilantism.

Among the gains he identified were greater discipline in election-related security, improved election security planning and increased public awareness of the law.

He noted that the highly visible vigilante formations that previously operated openly under identifiable names, uniforms and command structures had declined significantly.

However, he cautioned that the phenomenon could be returning in less obvious forms.

Some groups, he said, were allegedly rebranding themselves as internal security teams, volunteer task forces or community security initiatives, while others had dissolved into looser and more difficult-to-track networks.

He also pointed to the increasing use of social media, encrypted communication platforms, local disputes and informal security arrangements as possible avenues for mobilisation.

Another concern, he said, was the limited number of prosecutions and delays in some legal processes.

Dr Debrah warned that weak, selective or delayed enforcement could undermine deterrence, stressing that the law must be applied consistently, fairly and without fear or favour.

A major recommendation emerging from the address was the need to depoliticise the enforcement of Act 999.

Dr Debrah said the credibility of the law depended not only on what it prohibited but also on how it was enforced.

He called for operational decisions concerning vigilantism to be based on intelligence assessments, evidence and professional judgement rather than political considerations.

He proposed standardised enforcement protocols under which investigations would be evidence-based, accountability mechanisms would be transparent and security personnel involved in investigations and field operations would be professionally insulated from informal political interference.

“The credibility of Act 999 can be challenged by what it prohibits and how it is enforced,” he said.

Dr Debrah also called for preventive action to begin well before formal election campaigns.

He argued that by the time political rallies and campaign activities were in full swing, security agencies could already be dealing with the consequences of recruitment and mobilisation into violent groups.

He therefore advocated a structured preventive approach beginning between 12 and 18 months before elections, including intelligence mapping and stakeholder engagement.

Other proposed measures include youth engagement and civic education between nine and 12 months before elections, active monitoring of political mobilisation from six months before elections, targeted preventive operations during the campaign period and rapid-response mechanisms throughout the electoral process.

He stressed, however, that preventive security measures must respect the principle of innocence until proven guilty.

The Chief of Staff further called for more effective coordination among Ghana's security and governance institutions.

He said preventing election-related violence required more than periodic meetings and should involve real-time intelligence sharing, joint operations, joint risk assessments, shared communication channels, simulation exercises and unified command arrangements where operational circumstances required them.

He identified the National Security Secretariat, Ghana Police Service, Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana Prisons Service, Bureau of National Intelligence, National Commission for Civic Education and Electoral Commission among the institutions that must work together within their respective constitutional mandates.

Dr Debrah also addressed the role of private security companies and community security initiatives.

While acknowledging the legitimate role of communities, traditional leaders and private security providers in maintaining safety, he warned against allowing organised groups to assume coercive responsibilities reserved for state security institutions.

He reminded private security companies that they operate under licences and regulations and that such licences could be withdrawn where operators fail to comply with the law.

“Community participation must be strengthened lawfully by state authority, not substitute it,” he stressed.

Dr Debrah said enforcement of Act 999 should complement rather than undermine democratic freedoms.

The law, he noted, must protect citizens' rights to political participation, peaceful assembly and freedom of expression while preventing intimidation and violence.

He said public confidence would depend on visible neutrality, timely enforcement and consistent accountability.

Every Ghanaian, he argued, should be able to participate in elections with confidence that institutions would protect them equally and that political disputes would be resolved peacefully.

The Chief of Staff called for a whole-of-society approach to tackling political vigilantism, arguing that no single institution could address the problem alone.

He urged security agencies to maintain professional neutrality, political parties to mobilise responsibly, traditional leaders to use their conflict-resolution roles, and religious leaders to provide moral guidance.

He also challenged the media to practise responsible, accurate and calm journalism capable of preventing tensions from escalating.

Civil society organisations, he said, should continue investing in civic education, while the National Peace Council and National Security Secretariat should strengthen their interventions and collaboration.

Young people, in particular, were urged to channel their energy and talents towards national development rather than organised political violence.

Dr Debrah said Ghana's youth represented an important national asset whose potential should be harnessed for development rather than partisan conflict.

Dr Debrah outlined five key national priorities for strengthening the implementation of Act 999:

1. Neutral enforcement:
Implementation must be depoliticised at every level, from officers on the ground to senior officials responsible for approving investigations.

2. Early prevention:
Preventive measures must begin long before political parties officially launch their election campaigns.

3. Intelligence leadership:
Early-warning systems must be strengthened to identify and mitigate emerging threats, using both open-source intelligence and other legitimate intelligence-gathering methods.

4. Real-time coordination:
Security and governance institutions should institutionalise joint operations and information-sharing rather than relying solely on periodic coordination meetings.

5. Public confidence:
Institutions must demonstrate consistent accountability and ensure that justice is not only done but is visibly seen to have been done

In his concluding remarks, Dr Debrah said Ghana had earned a respected reputation as a stable democracy and must not sacrifice that achievement for short-term partisan interests or organised political intimidation.

He linked peace and development, warning that vigilantism was ultimately harmful to Ghana's national interests.

He said the success of Act 999 should not be measured solely by the disappearance of groups operating openly under identifiable names, but by whether the law effectively protects citizens and strengthens confidence in democratic institutions.

“The enduring success of Act 999 will not only be measured by the disappearance of vigilante groups but by how it protects Ghanaians equally by ensuring that institutions act professionally so that democracy prevails peacefully,” he said.

Dr Debrah assured participants that the National Security Council Secretariat would remain a reliable partner in efforts to strengthen the implementation of Act 999 and protect Ghana's democratic stability.

He said the government's commitment would go beyond policy statements to practical implementation aimed at strengthening public confidence in state security institutions.