Abstract:
Even though democracy is progressively finding grounds in West Africa, analysts are
increasingly becoming worried about the emerging trend of violent political vigilantism,
especially among the youth. Across the sub-region, virtually no country is being spared the
scourge of the violence. For countries that have experienced civil strife in the past this does not
come as a surprise. However, when relatively stable democracies like Ghana begin to feature
among the list of countries reeling under the plague of vigilantism, then it means the subject
requires serious treatment. It is for this reason that this study seeks to explore the dynamics of
political vigilantism in West Africa’s contemporary democratic dispensation and its implications
for human security. Ghana is used as a case study in an effort to delve deeper into the occurrence.
Among several others, the findings of the study show that the political culture of “winner-takesall”
in Ghana is a major contributory factor to the phenomenon of political vigilantism. The
study also established that if the current tide of vigilantism is not checkmated, it could lead to a
destabilization of the country’s democracy. To this extent, the study recommends that political
parties must disband all their para-militia youth wings and develop codes of conduct to guide
their activities. The study also recommends that security agencies and the judiciary must be
impartial, apolitical and fearless in when dealing with cases of vigilantism.
