“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the hopes genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
THE LAST WORDS, a democratically-imbued Ghanaian would wish to hear are “a coup”, “a military coup”, a “coup d’etat”, “a putsch”, “a military take- over”. Ghanaians of our generation (sexagenarian: 60-69; septuagenarian: 70-79; octogenarian: 80-89; nonagenarian: 90-99; centenarian: 100-109; super centenarian or ultra centanarian: above 110) will tell you their experiences under military rule. They have an eerie sense of déjà vu, and the majority of them would not wish it for Ghana. Take the 24th February 1966 Kotoka coup which overthrew Nkrumah’s CPP… or the 13th January, 1972 Kutu Acheampong’s coup which overthrew Busia’s Progress Party … or the 4th June, 1979. Flt Lt Jerry Rawlings’s coup (uprising) which overthrew the Supreme Military Council II of Fred Akuffo … or the 31st December, 1981 coup which overthrew Dr. Hilla Limann’s People’s National Party.
They all seemed to have similar justification based on the all-too familiar catchword phrases: corruption, bad governance, frustration among the general public and lack of discipline (intra- military quarrels) within the Armed Forces of Ghana. People may recall the civilian losses and harangues (demonstrations, mass protests) that characterized the last Rawlings’s coup (handing over-to-whom? rhetoric) with a new Constitution in 1992 and Rawlings metamorphosing from soldier to civilian president, running the show for 19+ years- after removing the (P) from the military PNDC (People’s National Defence Council) to obtain NDC (National Democratic Congress).
One would have thought that coups d’etat would be seen as relics of the past, but what do we see around us? A coup in Guinea led by the Special Forces man, Mamady Doumbouya on 5th September, 2021. Alpha Conde, the President, had announced in August: tax hikes, a slash in military and police spending and increase in the funding for the office of the President and the National Assembly. On 1st October, 2021, Mamady Doumbouya was sworn in as interim President.
On 25th May, 2021, Mali military man, Colonel Asimi Goita had held President Bah Ndaw and Premier Moctar Ouane hostage while staging a putsch, Goita, who was expecting to be named interim President says he was not consulted about a Cabinet reshuffle. He had overthrown Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in 2020 for his inability to check rising insecurity, rampant corruption, superintending a failing economy and his inability to resolve an ongoing strike.
Then the military, in neighboring Burkina Faso, on 24th January, 2022 hit the road and toppled the democratically elected government of Roch Marc Christian Kabore. Only a few days later, on 30th January, 2022 the military in Guinea-Bissau was said to have staged an insurrection. Why, one would ask? And where is ECOWAS? Would one say ECOWAS is a toothless bull-dog? Or one would ask: Would Allasan Ouattara of Cote d’lvoire have the nerves to chastise any coup leader anywhere, having changed the constitution to run for a ‘third term’ so, ECOWAS would charge at military coups d’etat but wink at bad civilian governance?
Daily Guide on Thursday, 27th January, 2022 had an editorial headed “Uneasy Calm Next Door” with an introductory passage “The putsch in Burkina Faso not only augments the troubles on the shoulders of our neighbor, it demands of us to be extra vigilant along our porous frontier with that country.” This should be very timeous advice (if we are suspicious of the word ‘warning’) given to our security outfit.
There is a Twi proverb which says: “Wote se wo yonko abodwese rehye a, sa nsuo si wo de3 ho (loosely translated: if you hear a neighbor’s beard is on fire, put some water close to yours). The said editorial warns: “This is not the time for our security agents operating or the Ghana/Burkina frontier to let our guards down.” The editorial adds: “With Bawku restive and the youth there eager to have fire arms and a security compromised Burkina Faso next door, the ground is fertile for gun-running” The conclusion of the editorial takes a swipe at ECOWAS functions, “All ECOWAS will do is impose weak sanctions in conference rooms as the power-stealing soldiers dig in and deride the actions of the economic community.”
Brigadier Nunoo-Mensah may be described as a ‘political flirt,’ (between NPP and NDC) but he says it has been difficult to reach out to the President. We pray (whatever opinion one has about his stature and his utterance especially Kwesi Pratt) that the President gives him a hearing. The National Security outfit could serve as a useful link.
The late General Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa used to lament: “I would leave my village (Krobo) and go to Accra to warn the government about agitations of the military but they would not take heed”. The result of this intransigence is the Kutu Acheampong’s coup of 13th January, 1972.
Meanwhile, the President is enjoined to issue strong advice (if ‘warning’ appears too strong) to all government officials and ministries, agencies, departments to be alert, and ensure they go about their functions dutifully and without a trace of corruption and other malfeasances.
The late Bob Cole used to sing: “Edwen se ereye me a, see na ereye woara wo ho” (loosely translated: “You think you are spurning or scorning me, you are mistreating yourself). There should not be any bigotry.
Our history teaches us that all Ghanaians are one people; there is a line of blood relationship, one with the other, among all the tribes in Ghana. We need to tackle youth unemployment seriously – the clock is ticking: no time to think of avoiding an ‘ECOWAS spring’.
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From Africaus Owusu-Ansah