What The Papers Say
We Beg To Differ
Daily Graphic, Ghana
The releases ordered by the PNDC, notably of ex-President Limann, create some cause for concern. Humanitarian impulses have obviously played a large part in these decisions, most explicitly in that relating to Krobo Edusei.But one may ask whether the damage done to the nation by the acts of these persons do not necessitate keeping them in custody even in the cases where further investigations are going on. Krobo Edusei and others convicted with him had used the pretext of electoral democracy to obtain a huge loan allegedly for the 1979 elections from a businessman of Italian origin based in South Africa and known to be involved in sensitive deals for the apartheid regime.
This was in breach of the constitutional and legal provisions governing the financing of political parties - remember, we are still awaiting the financial accounts of the dissolved parties, even as many former party activists live in luxury abroad. Krobo Edusei, Okutwer Bekoe and Kwesi Armah had taken huge personal portions from this amount out of which also bribes were paid to some former AFRC personnel in return for favours like participating in the vicious campaign against the AFRC and particularly its Chairman, Flt.-Lt. Rawlings.
There were indications that ex-President Limann had personally signed a document which was used in procuring this loan and some wondered why he too was not charged, especially since the PNDC has shown itself concerned to do justice to all manner of alike ex President or messenger.
More recently, investigations at the National Investigation Committee have begun to reveal how the ex-President again allowed deals over spraying machines to take place under his very nose. Though the Chief Executive of CMB was clearly the prime mover in the affair, even the evidence of Dr. Limann himself reveals how casually he allowed such blatant corruption to be carried on by high-ups within his party. His failure to purge his party as he had himself promised to do before the hand-over, threw this country into the hands of avaricious money-grabbers who were concerned for their personal wealth not the country's.
The result was the total destruction of productivity in this country with the creation of an atmosphere in which corruption and kalabule flourished. For an Executive President even to look on helplessly at such a state of affairs was a mockery of the aspirations of Ghanaians under the Third Republican Constitution.
Dr. Limann, however, did not merely look on. He was said during a session last year of the National Investigations Committee to have been personally involved in discussions about the elimination of Flt.-Lt. Rawlings as part of the grand plan for wiping away from Ghana's history the salutary short waves of the June 4th experience, despite the Transitional Provisions and all that.
We will publish tomorrow an article from a bulletin published in Paris sometime in 1981 disclosing the plans of foreign intelligence organisations in liaison with our own military intelligence. Dr. Limann became a veritable tool for these organisations and authorized the most obvious violations of the constitution even after court judgements set out limits to be respected constitutionally.
He illegally retired Flt.-Lt. Rawlings, Brigadier Nunoo-Mensah as well as the current Force Commander, Brigadier Quainoo and even after the Supreme Court had stopped his attempt to do a similar thing to the Chief Justice through its interpretation of a section of the Transitional Provisions, he did not think these military men deserved the same courtesy as the Chief Justice of being restored to their rightful role.
His foreign policy simply reflected his internal paranoias. Other countries' problems with Libya became our preoccupation. Not only was Ghana the first to declare its non-participation in an OAU Conference in Tripoli, but Dr. Limann also sought to deprive our football team of its triumph in Tripoli by a decision not to send them.
Similarly, contrary to our policy of non-alignment he single-handedly decided that Ghana should not participate in the Moscow Olympics simply because the U.S. Ambassador Tom Smid I decreed it. There could be no more abject submission of the national interest to the dictates of imperialism - precisely what Dr. Nkrumah whom the PNP claimed as its heir, described as neo colonialism.
Yet that abject posture did not enable us to obtain much needed assistance for economic recovery. Hard decisions that had to be taken were simply not taken as the economy plunged catastrophically downhill. It was a bold decision that Flt.-Lt. Rawlings took on December 31st in defence of the nation. The decision now to release the perpetrators of this state of affairs will be hard for the suffering masses to swallow.
The New Order
Daily Times, Nigeria
Today, Nigeria is celebrating her 23rd independence anniversary which, incidentally, coincides with the inauguration of President Shehu Shagari's second term in office. The dual significance of this day will certainly engender nation-wide festivity.However, the importance of today in the country's political history demands that Nigerians should spend some time for serious meditation and reflection on all that has happened to this nation since independence with the intention of avoiding the mistakes of the past and improving on the achievements.
Today, the nation has another chance to swear in the chief executive, both at the Federal and State levels, with the mandate to improve on the quality of life of the 80 million people of this country for the next four years.
The degree of performance of these people who were democratically and voluntarily chosen by Nigerians will be dependent on the amount of conducive atmosphere that prevails in the country.
Certainly the confrontational posture of some state governments to the central authority in the past four years did a lot of harm to the developmental objectives of the nation. Being the first four years of the presidential system and after a political doldrums of 13 years, the mistakes could be regarded as the price the nation has to pay to master the nuances of the new democratic experiment.
To meet the high aspirations of the people, therefore, there must be unalloyed co-operation between the Federal and State governments. As human beings, differences are sure to arise from time to time, but these should be resolved amicably without recourse to confrontation.
We know that the campaigns and the just-concluded elections generated, as should be expected, a lot of bad blood between the winners and losers and, by extension among the political parties.
Today, however, should be seen by all politicians as the end of politicking and the beginning of coordinated efforts by all to work for the progress of this country. We strongly appeal to all politicians to put all their differences behind and co-operate in all respects for the overriding interest of the nation.
The politicians should adopt this civilized democratic behaviour in order to totally defuse the tension and pave the way for meaningful development.
We join millions of Nigerians in congratulating President Shagari, the State Governors, the Senators and legislators in the new positions they have been put by the people to serve the interest of the nation for the next four years.
As those privileged to rule this great nation in the next four years, they should endeavour to make remarkable achievements that will give them an enviable place in Nigerian history. We wish the President, the Governors and others four years of positive results and greater achievements for Nigeria.
