The opposition National Democratic Congress seems to have discovered another vigilante group doing the bidding of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Aside the known ones such as the Invisible Forces, Delta Forces and Bolga Bull Dogs, the NDC mentions the Volta Crocodiles in its latest list of the pro-NPP vigilante groups.
At a meeting with journalists at its headquarters in Accra on Thursday, National Chairman Kofi Portuphy said the Volta Crocodiles are part of the vigilante groups terrorizing Ghanaians. Though Mr Portuphy could not give further details of the latest vigilante group, especially where they operate, he accused the groups en bloc of being behind the recent killings of police officers in the country.
“For the first time in our fourth Republican dispensation, a political party in the shape of the NPP, has incorporated militancy and violent extremism into its way of operations,” the former National Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (Nadmo) said.
“To give meaning to militancy and violence, a group of brigands and outright criminals, have been assembled and given such blood-clotting names as Invisible Forces, Delta Forces, Kandaha Boys, Volta Crocodiles etc and also given official covering from the seat of Government to perpetuate their illegal existence.
“These criminal gangs have been allowed to wage a psychological war on the security apparatus by attacking and openly killing policemen in uniform.” He said the party has intelligence that the killings are being perpetrated by the aforementioned vigilante groups.
“Per the information we are getting, these criminals are very much aware that they have full governmental backing and that in the event that they are even arrested by the police, they will be released by their political godfathers.”
He claimed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has given his tacit endorsement to the militant bodies, first of all failing to prosecute them in Kumasi in the Delta Force case and earlier allowing them to beat an Assistant Superintendent of Police in uniform right in front of his nose at the presidency.
“Did we vote for change for us to be killed, or we voted for development and growth?” he wondered.