Six years after its passage, the Vigilantism and Related Offences Act, 2019 (Act 999) is back in the spotlight, and not for the right reasons.
At a National Policy Dialogue organised by Election Watch Ghana at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra on Tuesday, August 25, former National Security Minister Francis Poku called for the repeal of the Act, describing it as unenforceable and irrelevant from inception.
He is not alone. Security analyst Col Festus B. Aboagye (Rtd) and former National Security Coordinator Kofi Totobi Quakyi, who joined him on the panel to assess the implementation of Act 999 and its implications for national security and democratic governance, also raised serious doubts about whether the law has achieved anything at all.
The concerns deserve a sober national reflection.
Because the law was born out of a painful moment in our democracy, if it has failed, we must have the courage to fix it.
This is a law born out of anger, which was passed as an immediate reaction to the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence in 2019.
The violence shocked the nation.
Masked men, described as national security operatives, brutalised citizens at a polling station. Public outrage was swift.
The government established the Emile Short Commission of Inquiry and subsequently pushed through Act 999, which criminalises the formation and operation of vigilante groups with a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, and 15 to 25 years for use of weapons.
On paper, it was decisive. In practice, it may have been hurried.
As the critics of the law contend, the government already had all the information it needed to act without resorting to a commission and a new law.
Ghana already has a robust Criminal Offences Act, Act 29, which punishes assault, unlawful assembly, possession of offensive weapons and murder.
The Police Service Act and other security laws also provide ample tools to deal with political thugs.
His central argument is damning: “As someone who has been in the security agencies and in charge of investigations, I know these cases cannot be established with evidence that will secure a conviction. No law enforcement agency would try to enforce it.”
Col Aboagye was even more blunt: “We have passed the law.
That's the end of the story.
We only passed the law to tick a box, not intending that after the enactment anybody who falls foul of the law would be dealt with.”
The evidence supports them.
A year after Act 999 was passed, the 2020 voter registration exercise and the 2020 general election were described by observers as the most violent since independence, with shootings and deployment of unidentified armed men at registration and polling centres.
How many convictions were secured under Act 999?
None of significance that the public can point to.
Mr Quakyi’s question is equally troubling: what happened to the 36 vigilante groups identified before the passage of Act 999?
Did they vanish, or did they merely change names and functions?
His reference to a new group calling itself the “Lions”, which claims it will operate within the context of Act 999 as a community policing group, shows how easily the law can be circumvented.
If a law cannot be enforced, and has not been enforced for six years, it loses its deterrent value.
Vigilantism in Ghana is not just about politics.
It is about the failure of constitutional organs of the state.
Many who patronise land guards and political vigilantes do so because the formal justice system is slow, expensive and sometimes compromised.
When a farmer cannot secure his land in court, he secures it with muscle.
When a politician feels the police are partisan, he raises his own security.
If after six years, consensus among former security chiefs is that Act 999 is unenforceable and was a knee-jerk reaction, then Parliament should consider repealing it and strengthening enforcement of Act 29 and other laws.
A bad law on the books weakens respect for all laws.
What we cannot do is continue the pretence.
We cannot keep a law that we have no intention of enforcing, while vigilante groups rebrand and resurface every election cycle.
Ghana goes to the polls in 2028.
The signs of re-arming are already visible.
If Act 999 cannot protect us, then we must find what will.
The dialogue at KAIPTC was timely.
Now Parliament, the Executive, the security agencies and civil society must act.
