The Threat of Political Vigilantism to Political Security in Africa: A Case of Ghana

Abstract

Ghana is gradually building a political culture that seems to support political vigilantism; the activities of vigilante groups have assumed a cyclonic nature. This study, therefore, seeks to assess the threat of political vigilantism to political security in Ghana and the roles of state and non-state actors in all of this. It explores the sources and the motivations for acts of political vigilantism. It addresses the threat of political vigilantism to political security in Ghana. It also analyses the implications of political vigilantism on security issues and Ghana‟s global image. Lastly, it discusses the roles of state and non-state actors in mitigating the threat of political vigilantism to political security using both primary and secondary sources in the data gathering process. The study demonstrates that unemployment and vulnerability of the youth, mutual suspicion among the political actors, and low confidence in state institutions motivate political vigilantism in Ghana. It also finds a high possibility of terrorists riding on the back of political vigilantism to plunge the country into chaos. The porous nature of borders in the West African subregion even makes this threat imminent. Political vigilantism tends to erode Ghana‟s soft power in global affairs. Therefore, the study recommends that both state and non-state actors adopt a broad-based approach to confront the problem frontally.