The march against Rawlings II
by our correspondent, Washington
Rawlings was right to observe that the present condition existed because Ghanaians had failed in the past to talk openly and candidly about their governments, and to participate in them. He is wrong to think that all who do will be on his side. Clearly, the marchers in Washington were against him. However, in a meaningful way, they were serving the purposes of the participatory government that has so far eluded Rawlings.This time it was Washington, D.C., 3rd March, 1984; against the backdrop of the U.S. seat of government and the last protest of 3rd December, 1983 in New York City. In all, some three hundred Ghanaians were involved in the march along the time-honored route of Pennsylvania Ave, to state their case against Rawlings' regime at home. The numerical strength of the protest was not significant. That this march was the second in barely three months was.
The start of the march was at the Capitol Building area. Unlike the first one in New York, there was no counter demonstration by a token pro Rawlings group. The early news heard within the Ghanaian community in Washington D.C. was that a number of demonstrators from places like Baltimore, New York City, Minnesota, Columbus, Oklahoma, Chicago and Canada were coming to march, at the invitation of the Ghana Congress of the United States and Canada, a congress of civic conscious groups of Ghanaians in North America, which is based in Baltimore, Maryland.
Though Rawlings' regime was the focus of the march, the theme or rather the color of this march differed from the first one in New York City. The former stressed the illegality of the Rawlings regime. The latter stated the obvious, "We Love Ghana", on a placard ahead of the parade.
Perhaps, in this statement "We Love Ghana" lies the salvation of the country. It is also good to note that it is a claim the Rawlings regime would like to make, a claim which, perhaps, had forced them to wrestle power from a constitutionally elected government, but one which has caused much havoc in the country. The pity is that in all self-proclaimed messianic missions of love contradictions abound.
Contradiction number one is when all who love Ghana must love her your way or suffer death, torture or degredation of life. Number two is when your claim for messianic purity shows putrefaction and those you love spot soiled cotton wool in the area of your sacred behind, and decide to set fire to it. Contradiction number one engendered number two, and the march in Washington was brought about by both.
The crowd that gathered on Capitol Hill that Saturday morning at 10.30 a.m., took in the sights of the surrounding buildings, and could not help but note the obvious: The beauty that permanence can beget; the dome of the Capitol Building, the massive marble walls, the impressive architecture. All this proclaimed 'legacy', at least to this writer. These buildings were not put up yesterday, and certainly would not disappear tomorrow like instant governments in Ghana (or Africa).
Herein lies the notability of the Building as a symbol of government in the United States, just as the Statue of Liberty is to their freedom. This is not an attempt to absolve the U.S. of past, present and future mistakes or faults. But, the mere presence of this building does exude the feelings that America has the will, the capacity, and the political machinery to effect positive changes, if and when she wishes..
You would be in lock-step with the marchers, if the awareness of the lack of permanence in Ghanaian institutions should occur to you at this stage. The Capitol Building, notwithstanding, is a symbol for change based on sound and constructive reasoning, forged by dialogue and consensus. Obviously, a government that attains and holds power through the force of guns, the support of foreign soldiers, in this case Cuba, and exercises power through the whims of a bunch of restless soldiers, can't produce this permanence. Needless to say, it can't bring about the desired change either.
But this was Washington D.C. The crowd moved along Pennsylvania Avenue chanting war songs. The ears of the avenue have been known to be deaf to many protests before. This one drew attention, if for any reason because the songs were unique. But pamphlets distributed along the march pointed to grievances common to many of the protests that had come before this one; the wish for freedom, the belief in democratic institutions, the respect for human life, and more important, that wishes that stir in the heart of mankind for decency of life can't lie dormant forever.
One of the marchers remarked that "The beauty of America is that it can entertain many views". Then he wondered what right Ghanaians have to protest about issues affecting their homeland in the U.S., to hold up traffic for the three hours it took the procession, at the American taxpayers' expense. But, another Ghanaian, a remarkably wise one, and this writer would have been very surprised if there weren't one in the march, scoffed at the idea. He claimed the Ghanaians in the march were taxpayers too. This effervescent wisdom failed to observe the same fact about his relatives at home. Judging by the curfew in force for the past two years, the Ghanaian citizen has as much right as the barnyard chicken..
Why Ghana should sink so low was a tropic freely discussed among the marchers. One cited an article in the People's Daily Graphic which described the plight of a Ghanaian woman who was held captive for two weeks, after extortions of bribe and rape, including that of her daughter, by some members of the PDC. Another recalled the attack on the Synod at Calvary Church, the closure of all national universities, the many attempted coups and resulting executions, the killings, the mass flight of scholars, artisans and intellectuals out of the country. Why do these things happen only under military regimes, when so called 'strong men' are in control?
The protestors wanted America to know about the soldiers in Africa. They would dare to be brave only when their rights are protected under constitutional rule. For, had Rawlings been around this time, with his vain-glorious intentions, and under his own rule, he and the bunch of rascals that helped him to power would have long been dead. But 'strong men' in Africa, as they are scornfully referred to, only have to survive democratically elected government, not much.
On the other hand there are the real strong men who would dare to oppose military regimes. Many are languishing in jails or dead. These are the writers, the market women, the politicians, the students and the like. One wished President Reagan was at his window in the White House when the march stopped at Lafayette Park, across the street. He would have seen a woman on a makeshift platform addressing the crowd. She called herself Yaa Asantewa, pointing to the historical significance of her name as a warrior. Her speech was remarkable, direct and fiery.
It boiled down to this: Ghana's independence was on the march. Ghanaians have been free, but never lived like free men. The march was the beginning of the new freedom. It would not end at the end. The marchers are going to carry this new spirit with them, to spread it, until change for the better came. In the body of this woman was more courage than Rawlings has, and more sense too.
But Rawlings was right to observe that the present condition existed because Ghanaians had failed in the past to talk openly and candidly about their governments, and to participate in them. He is wrong to think that all who do will be on his side. Clearly, the marchers in Washington were against him. However, in a more meaningful way, they were serving the purposes of the participatory government that has so far eluded Rawlings.
For, at some point in the future, Rawlings will go. Assuming he is able to leave a legacy of any worth, the very question of succession should give pause to his brand of 'participatory government'. Are Ghanaians to pick his successor by a coup or a general election? And are they to tear down the statue he will probably erect for himself, or name it after the man who ousts him? Or better still, should they do nothing about it, just like he couldn't change the name of Kotoka Airport for that of the man who conceived it?
The marchers who walked their way up 16th Street, after the stop at Lafayette Park, were certain that Rawlings was a failure. One placard read 'Rawlings Must Go'. Understandably, the misguided mischief-making that brought him to power is the cause of Ghana's grief today. And, as one of the speakers asked at Malcolm X Park, the final stop on the march, "Are Ghanaians better off now than they were in December 1981?" The answer was clearly was a resounding "No!". This brought to mind the circumstances surrou-ding the departure of Madam Famia Nkrumah, the widow of the first president. She had said to the congretation on at Christ the King the cons eirch "I am leaving Ghana Caths I am starving". Not understanding the horrendous nature of the indictment, the regime made matters worse by issuing charges and counter charges against her, creating an embarrassing situation for the whole nation.
If this woman could not afford to eat, who could? And if she wasn't wor thy of some deference, how could the people be accorded one? She definitely was not one of the people who stole the country blind. Otherwise, would she be living in the country for all these years, or did she escape the scrutiny of the infamous vetting committee?
INSENSITIVITY
But the march had its disturbing aspect also. It had come in the wake of the approval of some $377 million loan to Ghana by the International Monetary Fund. The rationale for the approval was that the Rawlings regime was the most likely and able to implem ent suggestions by the IMF. Truly, sometimes we are the victims of our own perceptions. First, the IMF ignored the fact that this regime has imposed its rule on the people of Ghana. Second, the IMF lacked confi- dence in the civilian government be- fore. Third, the IMF approves of military takeover. Fourth, the IMF has no regard for the protestations of the Heads of the Council of Churches in Ghana, The association of Recognised Professional Bodies, the National Universities' Students, farmers, and all opposing voices in Ghana. Fifth, Ghana is a test case for the IMF, and Rawlings a hapless collaborator. But the question is; who will pay off the loan, the PNDC? And what happens next when the very conditions extant in the country today overwhelm the Rawlings regime? Conditions in Ghana today are very taxing, and probably will get worse in the future. The children of Ghana are the ones who will bear the burden of the mistakes of the past. It is one thing to pay for the collective mistakes of all Ghanaians, and another to pay for the mistake of the collective few, at the urging of the IMF.The march had started at 10.30 a.m. At 1.30 p.m. it was in the vicinity of the Ghana Embassy. The marchers had hoped for a final outburst of protest and demonstration, similar to the one in New York City, where only a street separated them from the Ghana Mission building on 47th St. It had been a long trip for some who had to come from far away places by road and air and were going to return that same day. Yet, one sensed the energy for the final hurrah was there at the hope to demonstrate right in the face of the Embassy. That didn't happen.
The Law and order that had recognized their right to protest in peace, also pre-empted the possibility of rowdyism, even though there had not been a trace of it on the whole march. The law required that all demonstrations be done outside the periphery of 500 ft. of the Embassy's block. Thus was the march to wind up at Malcolm X Park, behind walls, denying the protestors, perhaps, their most dramatic moment of the march. Herein lies the irony of democracy.
Here was an Embassy that had fallen victim to a lawless group from within, yet being protected from outside by the same discipline it has no patience or regard for. No doubt the regime would always laugh at democratic institutions and replace these with Kangaroo courts and schizophrenic institutions. Yet, at the sametime, there is something remarkably satisfying at the thought; the ability to feel protected, which is not the case in Ghana, and the possibility of looking at these law and order societies and telling them, "Look, we are not asking for anything different, just what you have here. We want to be saved from the defence committees, the PDC and the WDC".
But, if these marchers have their way, there is certainly going to be some confrontation, eventually, even if it starts on a conceptual level. This was guaranteed by Rawlings when he usurped power from a constitutionally elected government, heaped insult on their pride as Ghanaians, and accepted the IMF loan to prop up his government. By doing these, he has created enough pressure points to bring about his downfall. The generous spirit prevalent at the march advised Ghanaians to take sides: No more fence-sitting.
The frustration of not being able to demonstrate right in the face of the Embassy almost dampened the spirit of the marchers. By 1.45 p.m. attempts to get the authorities to change the rule had failed, and a delegation was sent to present a list of grievances to the regime at the Embassy on 2400 block of 16th Street, instead. The rest waited in the middle of the park across from the Embassy. The wait allowed member groups of the Congress to be introduced; The American Friendship Committee for the People of Ghana, Baltimore, the host group; United Front for the Liberation of Ghana, New York; Coalition for Democracy in Ghana, Columbus, Ohio; Ghana Citizens Organization of U.S. & Canada, Chicago; and Ghana Forum of Detroit, Michigan.
In the end, the marchers were satisfied. They dispersed in the manner they came. But they left with the determination to march and march again, until the condition in Ghana changes for the better. The message was: Ghana is not Rawlings to give, but Ghanaians to regain.
...AND IN FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
IN THE Federal Republic of Germany a delegation of the UK branch of the Campaign for Democracy in Ghana joined their West Germany members to stage a peaceful demonstration in Dusseldorf against the regime of the Provisional National Defence Council.The procession which according to our man in Dussel- dorf, K. Ameyaw, was believed to be the first Ghanaian demonstration in the area, began at 9.30am from Heinrich Street through Brehm Street to Lindermann Street No. 43.
The demonstrators carried placards, posters and chanted songs whose lyrics condemned the military dictatorship of Flt-Lt Rawlings. They were joined by sympathetic Germans to carry placards some of which read, 'We Need Democratic Ghana. Government in Ghana', 'Ghana is not Rawlings property', 'Ghana-Rawlings' Poultry Farm?', 'No Place Like Home But', written in both English and German.
The demonstration ended at Lindermann Street No. 43 at about 11am where a declaration from the campaigners meant for the Chairman of PNDC, Flt-Lt. Rawlings, was read by their chairman, Mr Martin Fosu, and presented to the Ghana Consular Officer in Dusseldorf.
The Honorary Consulate, Mr Manfred C. Shroder regretting his inability to help the Ghanaians in anyway promised to forward the declaration to the Ghana Embassy in Bonn.
According to reliable sources, there were last minute attempts to get the campaigners in a dialogue with officials at the Ghana Embassy in Bonn to prevent the damage that would be done to the government of Ghana. This however did not materialise.
To round off the day's activities, a press conference was held at which the Campaigners led by the chairman, Martin Ofosu, and secretary, Augustine Gyamfi Ntiamoah, resolved that the cruel, inhuman, arbitrary and degrading treatments meted out to people both in and out of custody by the soldiers and supporters of the PNDC resulting in the death and maiming of victims in many cases, in total and flagrant disrespect for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be stopped forthwith.
That the public Tribunals and Defence Committee Courts, the majority of whose members are not legally qualified undermine the traditional systems of justice in Ghana
In this connection the demonstrators declared their unalloyed support for the continued boycott by the Ghana Bar Association of the Tribunals.
They also condemned Flt-Lt. Jerry John Rawlings and the PNDC for suppressing the press and killing press freedom in the country and causing the arrest, imprisonment or dismissal of many journalists.
That the PNDC must make use of all legitimate resources locally and internationally to improve the general economic situation in the country and to take appropriate and practical steps to reduce the cost of living in the country. In conclusion they demanded that Flt-Lt. Rawlings and the PNDC should hand over the administration of the country to democratically elected civilian government with all Ghanaians fully participating in it to ensure genuine social justice, equity, accountability and decency in the Ghanaian society.
