President Nana Akufo-Addo can no longer be silent on the thuggery of some New Patriotic Party sympathisers following his investiture, Dr Eric Opoku Mensah, a political science lecturer at the University of Cape Coast, has said.

“I expect that his voice and his command will be the final voice,” otherwise, “the president could be blamed” should things get out of hand, and, therefore, “he needs to come out and speak”, Dr Opoku Mensah told Emefa Apawu on Class91.3FM’s 505 news programme on Wednesday, 18 January.

“It should be of major concern to him” because it has “grown to become a weighty matter”, he said.

NPP supporters belonging to the party’s security arm, Invincible Forces, have been accused of attacking perceived opposition members working in state institutions across the country as well as taking over such institutions forcibly.

The main opposition NDC has, on several occasions, called on the president and the NPP to rein in the Invincible Forces. However, the NPP’s acting Chairman, Freddy Blay, recently said the Invincible Forces were merely protecting state property rather than harassing people appointed in those institutions by the past administration. Chief of Staff Frema Opare has issued a directive for such takeovers to stop but to no avail. The police say they have arrested about 14 people so far in connection with the takeovers.