Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram Constituency, Sam Nartey George has said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) does not have militia groups and that the NDC-affiliated ‘Azorka Boys’ and the Hawks are community-based organisations.
The Azorka Boys formed by Mr Sofo Azorka, the former Northern Regional Chairman of the NDC, is perceived to be one of the main militia groups of the party in the Northern Region.
Apart from the Azorka Boys, other groups such as The Hawks, Eastern Mambas, Dragons and Lions are all affiliated to the NDC.
Key party leaders have accepted responsibility for the actions of these groups.
For example, Mr. Kabore, the Eastern Regional Organiser of the NDC in an interview with the Evening Mail accepted that the Eastern Mambas are part of the party and they have been formed to protect ballot boxes in 2020.
The NDC however, in a recent statement signed by its General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia insisted that the party does not have any militia groups but rather individuals in the party own those groups.
This was after Mr. Asiedu Nketia himself had stated that they owe the Hawks and that they had to form the militia group to combat the NPP’s invincible forces.
But responding to questions on Monday, 25 February 2019 before the Commission of Inquiry set up to probe the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence, Mr George said the Azorka Boys is not a “vigilante group” but a community-based organisation.
The Ningo _ Prampram legislator said: “What I know for a fact is that the party I belong to, the National Democratic Congress does not have any vigilante groups. The two groups I’m familiar with, the Azorka Boys and The Hawks are groups that owe allegiance to individuals.
“For example, the Azorka Boys bear the name of Mr Sofo Azorka and for me, the Azorka Boys are not a vigilante group, I’ll rather refer to them as a community-based organisation.
“I’ve been in a community in Tamale before and I witnessed the commissioning of a borehole project by the Azorka Boys that had been done based on community engagements, so, for me, I’ll not call them vigilante groups. But let me say on record that the National Democratic Congress does not have a vigilante group.”
Source: The Evening Mail
