Director of Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research at the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Center, Dr. Emmanuel Kwesi Aning continues to envisage doom and predict dark future for Ghana as he keeps up desperate demands for immediate end to all forms of youth vigilantism in the country.
The Security analyst was a guest speaker on curbing youth vigilantism – a panacea for sustainable development at an event organized by NORSAAC to mark 15yrs of its existence at the Dr. Andani Adnan Academic Chamber, University for Development Studies in Tamale, Thursday, November 16, 2017.
Dr. Aning has been tough and plain about security matters of the state, particularly recent proliferation of civic activism in the country, offering provocative analysis on security debates but nothing comes close this latest incendiary predictions on the nation’s future.
He warned Ghana was at a tipping point of instability and forecast an infiltration of Islamic State terrorist network by 2020 due to the deliberate exploitation and manipulation of youthful exuberance by authority figures to achieve particular political end and the inability of security agencies to act due to political interferences.
“What we are seeing is organized criminality, hooliganism, it threatens the stability of this country, and by 2020 either Islamic State would’ve infiltrated it or the al-Qaeda would’ve infiltrated it, because there is an army of the poor established by Islamic State, pay them thousand two hundred to two thousand dollars every month with a view to inciting youth from this part of the world to join them”, he declared ominously.
Vigilante groups affiliated to the ruling NPP party since the party took power have gone on rampage, attacking regional government departments and hounding out officers from their offices with impunity.
Expatiating on the claim of terror groups infiltration, the expert said the Islamic State had marked Ghana a prime target and has been desperately seeking channels to establish bases and assume operation.
Security agencies have not been able to independently act and in most case it took the President or Interior Minister to issue orders to the police to act, a trend the security expert called a serious national security threat.
The worrying aspect according the analyst is that, these youth unleashing the terror on state agencies and officers do not know the “complicity and dangers of their behavior” leaving them extremely vulnerable for manipulations and inducement.
He alluded to a report by Libyan authorities months ago about some Ghanaian youth joining the terror group and added he believed the number given as 50 may have increased and suspects ISIS has already formed bases in the country and may just be waiting for opportunity to strike.
He said as several coalition forces intensified aggression against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, dozens of its fighters have fled into parts of North Africa and recent activities of organised criminality in Ghana could provide lifeline for their operation.
“Organized criminality and hooliganism are easy to infiltrate, divert it rationale and allow that group unknowingly to behave in ways that was not its original intention”, Dr. Emmanuel explained
Dr. Aning argued that what was happening in the country wasn’t acts of vigilantism but organized criminality and hooliganism purely carried out by disgruntled supporters of political parties.
According to him, the level of frustration among the youth in this country where over 2m unregistered arms are in the hands of civilians, was enough opportunity for extremist militant groups to manipulate the youth to join.
Using the age distribution ratio formula, Dr. Aning appeases fear that the activities of hooliganism and organized crime can lead to war or violence outbreak in the country, using other West African nations as reference.
He explained that propensity for violence was high in every society where youth ration was larger than other variables of the population, and in this particular case, Ghana stand a high possibility of descending into war if acts by vigilante groups are not curbed.
Dr. Aning also blamed “wild,unattainable promises” inherent in political manifestos as another breeding ground for organized criminality and hooliganism and hinted he was starting a campaign in 2020 that would make it possible for individuals to sue political parties if they were not able to fulfill promises made to electorates.
“I will lead a campaign in 2020 to ensure party manifestoes become binding contract between political parties and citizens”, Kwesi Aning.
He called for national conversation, increased education and awareness creation on the inherent dangers of organised criminality or vigilantism as some of the effective means to curb the menace.
By: Kasapafmonline.com/Eliasu Tanko
