Former Attorney-General, Defence Minister and Interior Minister, Dr Benjamin Bewa-Nyog Kunbour, has called for a comprehensive review of Ghana’s approach to political vigilantism, arguing that the Vigilantism and Related Offences Act, 2019 (Act 999), contains inherent contradictions that have undermined its effective implementation.
Speaking during the second panel at a National Policy Dialogue organised by Election Watch Ghana at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Dr Kunbour said the challenges surrounding the enforcement of Act 999 were partly rooted in flaws in the law-making process, overlapping security mandates and an overreliance on conventional policing.
He urged legal practitioners, security analysts and journalists to examine the legislative history of the Act, including the Parliamentary Hansard and committee reports, to better understand the circumstances surrounding its passage.
‘Act 999 was passed as if it was going to exist in a legal vacuum’
Dr Kunbour argued that the legislation contained contradictions from the outset, making effective implementation difficult.
“Act 999 was passed as if it was going to exist in a legal vacuum,” he said.
“If the media goes back to read the official Parliamentary Hansard and the Committee reports on the bill, you will clearly see why this Act cannot be implemented on the ground. From the day it was conceived, it carried internal contradictions.”
He cautioned against the belief that legislation alone could resolve complex political and social problems such as vigilantism.
“Remand is in no way even a half-solution to a structural problem,” he said.
“Lawyers and lawmakers often fall into the trap of thinking that passing a new statute solves every societal ill. Not every legal regime can address complex political phenomena.”
Overlapping security roles undermined enforcement
Dr Kunbour also attributed some of the difficulties to what he described as an unclear security command structure during the development of the legislation.
He said the existence of several overlapping security portfolios created uncertainty over who ultimately exercised operational control.
“The law-making process starts at the executive arm of government, but no clear explanations were provided regarding command architecture,” he said.
“Look at the setup at the time: you had a Minister for National Security, a Minister of Security in the Office of the President, a National Security Adviser to the President, and a National Security Coordinator. In this mega-mix of roles, who was actually taking control?”
According to him, such overlaps, coupled with political interference, could undermine the effective implementation of legislation.
He therefore called for a streamlined security architecture with clear lines of responsibility and accountability.
“Today we complain about the challenges of enforcing Act 999, but those failures were baked into the process from the very day the bill was drafted,” he added.
Target the networks behind vigilantism
Turning to solutions, Dr Kunbour warned against relying solely on the banning or public identification of vigilante groups as a means of dismantling political violence.
He argued that the groups operating publicly were only the visible part of wider networks.
“Every seasoned security analyst knows that any vigilante name mentioned out in public is merely the surface group operating,” he said.
“Underneath those public names lie deep-seated, covert networks. If you only target the public name, the underground structure remains intact.”
He called for a long-term strategy to address both the economic factors that push young people into vigilante groups and the political structures that create demand for their services.
“Vigilantism is not only about criminal activity; it is driven by bad governance, and that bad governance originates directly within political parties,” he said.
“We must build a long-term strategy that systematically cuts off the supply chain, the socio-economic factors driving young people into these groups, while clamping down on the political demand side.”
Dr Kunbour said Act 999 should not necessarily be scrapped, but stressed that statutory bans alone would remain ineffective without meaningful internal reforms within political parties.
He said political party leadership must address governance failures that create demand for informal armed groups and strengthen internal mechanisms for managing political competition without resorting to violence.
