The Vigilantism and Related Offences Act, 2019 (Act 999) and the War on Vigilantism in Ghana: an Appraisal

What is it about?

Vigilantism is a blot on any country's democracy. In this paper, we discuss how this menace can be effectively addressed. We examine Ghana's Vigilantism and Related Offences Act, 2019 (Act 999) to understand how the country has been dealing with political vigilantism. We find that, despite the good intentions, negligible efforts are made to fully enforce the law. Relying on archival research and expert interviews, the paper examined how the Act 999 proposes to address the menace and highlighted the factors delaying the law’s full enforcement. We found that little efforts has been made to fully enforce the law, and that even though the Act provides severe sanctioning regimes relative to the specific provisions of the relevant laws that existed hitherto its promulgation, this law also treats vigilantism as a misdemeanour.

Featured Image