Letter To Ghana's Senior Statesmen
Stand Up And Be Counted
It is not possible or even necessary to recount all the malaise here, as it is only common knowledge to all reason- able Ghanaians. However, what cannot easily be understood is how the situation can be allowed to get to this stage while our senior statesmen, who in the past had said were believers in democracy, freedom and justice, and preached these themes from political platforms have remained silent.
The most worrying fact is that, it is not just the lasting damage to the economy due to the more corrupt and incompetent management, but the very fact that our most treasured traditional way of life is being destroyed while nobody is raising a finger! How can our seniors expect to be forgiven in the future for their passive attitude at the destruction of our beautiful way of life and traditions?
Ghanaians have been under siege since the inception of this supposedly popular administration. Why the permanent curfew then? And the country has been deeply, and possibly permanently divided along several lines. There are deep divisions in dence! workplaces, and even divisions in the markets. Life in the towns and villages is just as unpleasant. People are so suspicious of one another, it is nearly impossible to talk openly with anybody. This is all for fear of being reported to the authorities. Why should Ghanaians in their own country be so frightened and scared? Ghanaians can't even be free in their own country, and yet this is the Ghana that was the first black African country to be independent!
It is just unbelievable that those who believe in freedom and democracy, people who have been members of past democratic governments of this country; people who have the power, have now not got the guts to stand up and fight for what they believe in!
Ghanaians are naturally a free people; they love their freedom, but have now found themselves caged in like animals. They do not support Rawlings and his friends and this is often illustrated by the now regular hysterical outbursts by Rawlings, and also by continued efforts including bringing in foreign soldiers to help them stay in power.
However, there is no rallying point for Ghanaians to show their disapproval. The distinct apathy shown by Ghanaians towards national affairs which Rawlings finds it hard to understand, is due to the absence of organised internal opposition.
It is therefore the duty of our senior statesmen to fill this important vacuum. Perhaps it will be worth reminding them of the actions of Paa Willie, Afrifa and Gbedema, in Kumasi against the Acheampong regime in the late 70s. Acheampong's government was not even half as unpopular as the Rawlings/Tsikata/ Ahwoi family clique, yet when Paa Willie and others dared, the spontaneous support was explosive! Again our seniors can see very well what the senior statesmen in Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, just to mention a few, are doing.
They must not just sit down and let Rawlings and his family and cousins trample upon the rest of us Ghanaians, and reverse the meaning of our independence which was won as a result of hard struggle in which men like Nkrumah, Paa Willie and others were sent to jail. We must not allow suppos- edly power-drunk saviours to bring in communist troops to enslave us in our own country 27 years after independence.
It won't be easy to stand up against these 'revolutionaries', because their sycophantic press will be up almost immediately to blackmail anybody who attempts it, but that does not mean the situation should be allowed to continue the way it is.
We need freedom fighters inside Ghana so that we can all rally behind them. The cup fits our senior statesmen. They have the following of the people, it is they we voted for the last time, it is they who will be heard when they speak and it is they Rawlings and Tsikata even in their most schizophren ic moods dare not touch, knowing that any move against them will take the lid off the bomb, and the explosion that they are so scared of and have so far tried to avoid, will then occur.
Therefore our seniors must not just sit down and await a coup before they come out to preach democracy, freedom and justice, and solicit power. Civil resistance is the most appropriate under the present circumstances. That made Acheampong go. We are too mature a nation, to allow a few families to bully us. Ghana does not belong to their forefathers alone. The ridicule is beyond description. How can all members of certain families hold government posts? What shows that people from other families and tribes cannot rule the country?
If our soldiers have allowed themselves to be used to suppress their own people, they should realise that very soon, when the Cuban soldiers arrive, they will also join the rest of us in the suffering, because their masters have realised that they cannot be depended on. Meanwhile, we the civilians have to stand up and find a solution to this continuing enslavement.
I am therefore making a sincere appeal to the likes of Paa Willie, Victor Owusu, Col Bernasko, Dr Safo Adu, Dr Bilson, Dr Limann, Dr Agama, Da Rocha, just to mention a few names, plus all other leaders and organisations in Ghana not in agreement with the way our lives are now being changed, to offer Ghanaians the required leadership, that is presently lacking. Even if it means harassment and worse still, death. Sometimes it is better to die for a worthy cause than to be driven into shameful cowardice before your sons and daughters.
After all Beniguo Aquino died for freedom in the Philippines, yet he is more 'alive' than dictator Marcos. I believe that our seniors should back their belief in democracy by being prepared to 'die small' for what they profess to believe in again, if they believe in what they said and did in their past political lives, then they must be prepared to lead their people out of this dictatorship. This is the time Ghanaians will be looking out for real leaders.
There is no reason why we should have fought and won independence from our colonial masters in the 1950s only to be enslaved in the 1980s by a small unpopular minority of our own society with the help of Cuban troops and the use of our very much needed scarce foreign resources.
No, this must not be allowed to continue in Ghana of all places. OUR SENIOR STATESMEN MUST STAND UP AND BE COUNTED!
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This letter came to us from Tema, Ghana, the writer's name and address have been withheld on request.
