Dr. Hilla Limann
There he stood at the edge of a thick forest, wearing an angelic celestial crystal white robe with white beard to match. He beckoned me to come closer. At first I hesitated but he insisted that I should come for a message. I moved forward, but as I came closer, he asked me to stop there. I obliged.
With a shrill voice, he charged me to take a message to Ghanaians. He said he is restless and angry in his grave because he was not treated fairly by Ghanaians, and as such his soul will never rest in peace. Before I could speak, he moved into the forest, singing a sad melody amidst curses. I watched with an apprehension.
My stubborn cat pricked my feet with its claws, which sent me jumping on my feet. I tried to sleep and dream again, but sleep would never come. Dreams, they can tickle you.
Very few people in Ghana knew Dr. Hilla Limann when he came storming into the Ghanaian political landscape. General FWK Akufo and his Supreme Military Council II had lifted the ban on party politics, and political parties started springing up. The Busia/Danquah tradition formed the Popular Front Party (PFP), led by Mr. Victor Owusu and the Nkrumaist also formed the People’s National Party (PNP).
Other political parties were formed, and the stage was set for the 1979 General Election. When the name of Dr. Hilla Limann was mentioned as the flagbearer of the PNP, the Daily Graphic had a screaming headline: LI WHO? The publication wanted to know who Dr. Limann was, because the name had never been heard in Ghanaian politics. Limann was a career diplomat, plying his trade outside Ghana, so Ghanaians did not know him.
As political parties criss-crossed the country canvassing for votes, we woke up one day to hear the angry voice of JJ Rawlings on May 15, 1979, announcing that he had taken overpower. He was arrested and put before a Military Court Marshall, but before judgment could be delivered, some soldiers on June 4 spirited him from the guardroom where he was locked up.
What followed was the bloodiest regime in Ghana since independence.
Unruly, drunk and drugged soldiers went on rampage, beating and killing innocent Ghanaians. Three former Heads of State and some top military officers were summarily executed.
Almost everything on the shelves of our shops were sold at give-away prices under what the mad soldiers called Control Price. In a matter of three months, the country came down on her knees, and blood flowed everywhere. Under pressure from the international community, Rawlings and his crazy hot heads handed over power to Dr. Hilla Limann who won the 1979 General Election.
Limann inherited nothing but chaos and empty shelves. There was nothing left in the markets for sale, and the country became broke. Immediately after taking over power, Dr. Limann’s government introduced the Trade Liberalisation Policy, which saw the importation of scarce commodities into the country to solve the problem of scarce essential commodities like sugar, rice, milk, baby food, toothpaste among others.
To improve foreign trade, the PNP government ordered four brand new cargo ships from South Korea to add up to the existing sixteen cargo ships bought by Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
He built roads, schools and started revamping factories which were left to rot by the previous military rulers. In fact, Dr. Limann’s regime was the first to build an asphalted road in Ghana. The asphalted road was constructed from Accra to Takoradi. The German contracting firm which built the road was called Carl Plotner, and the then minister for Roads and Highways was the late Colonel Zuarungu.
Life started becoming fine under Dr. Hilla Limann. The Minister for Fuel and Power, Professor George Benneh, made sure fuel, which was in very short supply, became abundant. Long queues at filling stations became a thing of the past. All these were achieved in a matter of less than TWO years.
For reasons best known to Rawlings, the master coup maker, he overthrew the government of Dr. Limann. He leveled many charges against him including corruption, mismanagement of the economy, and crime against the state, among others. For twelve years, Dr. Limann stayed in this country, but nobody took him to court.
Dr. Limann never built a house of his own, and lived with his wife and children in a two bedroom quarters donated to him by the state at Nungua, because he had nowhere to lay his head. He was not paid any End of Service Benefit, and neither did the state take care of him in anyway, not to talk of his medical bills.
At a point in time, his wife, Madam Fulera Limann, came out to tell Ghanaians that things were so bad for the family that she had to take a bowl to beg for corn dough from Zongo to prepare Tuozaafi for her husband.
The woman struggled to educate the children left behind by Limann, while Mr. Rawlings educated his four children in prestigious schools abroad.
Limann, as former Head of State did not owe a car when he was illegally pushed out of office, and it was the Baptist Mission which donated an old pick-up for him. Very sad indeed! Meanwhile, Rawlings who usurped power later died, leaving behind several mansions of architectural wonder, fleet of luxurious cars and fat foreign and local bank accounts. This world, my brother!
When Limann fell sick and needed to be taken abroad for medical treatment, Rawlings and his criminal junta refused to give him that opportunity. On January 23, 1998, he died of heart and other ailments at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
In fact, he died a pauper. He had willed before his death that Ghana should not give him state burial, because of the way he was treated as a former Head of State. His corpse was driven in a rickety vehicle to his hometown, Gwollu in the Upper West Region to be buried in a common man’s grave.
When President Kufuor went to Gwollu and learnt of the way the former Head of State was buried, he ordered for a befitting tombstone to be built for the man, and promised to build a mausoleum in honour of the former Head of State. That dream did not come to reality before the Gentle Giant left power. One thought the NDC, which took over from Kufuor, would have done that but they did not have the moral right to build a mausoleum for the man they treated so shabbily. God is still watching them.
The ball is now in the court of President Akufo-Addo to make history by continuing where Mr. Kufuor left out. History is made from such bold actions, and Nana should not hesitate to seize the opportunity.
A stick of Monte Carlo hand-rolled cigar will do at times like this when I am hunched with emotion and sorrow.
Eric Bawah
ericbawah2022@Gmail.com