How to hand over to yourself
by Elizabeth Ohene
The third option is to go through a charade: the people are so impressed by your performance that they 'ask' you to stay on and you have no choice but to answer their calls and in response to their requests, you hand over power to yourself.Like all other "angry young men in the military barracks" the Master-Sergeant had no political ambitions. He was just disgusted with the way the 'corrupt politicians' were running his country.
The economy was in shambles, food prices were rising to levels unattainable by the ordinary person, the politicians were flaunting their wealth while the poor children of the country were starving.
Any self-respecting soldier really had no option but to take up arms and do his patriotic duty by throwing out the politicians. But then they have been such criminals it is impossible to restrain the anger and it is part of the patriotic duty to despatch a few of the politicians to death and the lucky ones to long jail terms.
And all the time, it should be made quite clear that this is only a corrective regime and essentially a stop-gap measure, once everything is in place, he will leave the scene. 'Everything in place' means the economy is buoyant, the nation has built all the roads, schools, clinics, hospitals, dwelling accommodations it needs, corruption is eradicated from all sections of the society, the politicians who used to think they were above everybody are forced to learn their lessons and are publicly humiliated. Included in everything being in place are the added stipulations that all the citizens will be rich; poverty, illiteracy and ignorance would have been eradicated. In other words, the nation should be transformed into a heaven on earth and then the work of the patriotic soldier would have been done and he will be ready to go back to the barracks. Of course, the return to the barracks would not be before a proper foundation has been laid for the workings of a truly demo- cratic state and all the citizens have been taught to recognise their rights.
If some intrepid journalist should ask how long it will take for all these hopes to be realised, he will be put in his proper place for daring to ask such a foolish question, he will get the proper answer: we are soldiers, and in a hurry and just you wait and see us work with true military speed, as we have said often, we are not politicians and we are therefore not shackled by political considerations.
We on the West Coast of Africa seem to love change more than all other people and particularly if our leaders seem to be getting their comeuppance and therefore our people come out waving the new redeemers on.
Invariably, rather than go up, the economy takes a nosedive and the euphoria at the support rallies never matches the work that is required to get the economy moving.
Thus far, this scenario could apply to any West African country Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia etc, but for the moment let us limit it to Liberia and the patriotic soldiers who moved on to the political scene four years ago.
It did not take long for them to start enjoying the trappings of office, the Master-Sergeant moved from his ramshackle beach hut to the Executive Mansion and to the type of car that was preferred by the politicians.
After a while however, people begin to get restive, they want to hold the soldiers to the promises made in the early days after seizing power, some of the politicians have recovered their broken nerves and the people are beginning to feel that the differences between the 'corrupt politicians' and the redeeming soldiers seem confined to their apparel. And after a number of years, it is a little difficult to keep on blaming everything on the overthrown politicians.
Handing over to an elected government has always proved troublesome for one never knows what might get into the heads of the politicians once they get back into power - they might start probing into the affairs of the 'corrective regime' and it wouldn't be safe to simply continue in the hope that the rumblings in the country will stop.
There are three options available for this dilemma, the first is the one favoured by the former French colonies the former Sergeant/Colonel/General transforms himself into President, this is essentially just a change in nomenclature and the regime remains in effect a military one, the new 'President' keeping his military links, examples can be found in Togo etc, and the late Gen. Acheampong attempted that in his ill-fated Union Government misadventure.
The second option is to go ahead and lift the ban on politics and allow the civilians to campaign for votes and for elections to take place. You then hand over to them and tell them openly or quietly in your own head that you are placing them on probation. Wait a while and seize power from them again on the excuse that they had failed the terms of the probation and had reverted to the bad old ways which had made you intervene in the first place - the option favoured by Flt-Lt. Rawlings of Ghana and General Buhari and his friends of Nigeria. The length of time it takes to intervene again depends on how long you are able to withstand the withdrawal symptoms that come with missing the trappings of power.
The third option is to go through a charade: the people are so impressed by your performance so far, they ask you to stay on and you have no choice but to answer their call and in response to their requests you hand over power to yourself. It will be educative to see how General Doe manages his hand-over manoeuvre. So far he has been walking the tightrope with aplomb.
The soldiers will hand over power, they will keep to their word. Who they will hand over to is the only point at issue. Gen. Doe has accepted requests from chiefs and elders and other organisations to run as president in the promised elections, he has told all Cabinet ministers who may want to form political parties or associate with political parties to resign their posts within one week.
In other words, Gen. Doe can be counted upon to combine his role as President of the interim National Assembly with that of a leader and presidential candidate of a political party and yet no member of his cabinet or government official can enjoy a similar luxury.
Supposing that some other chiefs and elders also call upon a member of Gen. Doe's Cabinet to run as president why should such a person not be able to combine the two roles in the same manner as Gen. Doe is expecting to do?
Even more intriguing is what Gen. Doe is planning to do about his military role. He has said that he has received overwhelming support from the Liberian army that surely is something that must have been taken for granted up till now!
been a military regime. If he is stating the support of the army as one of the reasons for running for President, is the suggestion then that one of the requirements for running for President is an endorsement from the Army! Will other presidential candidates also have to seek similar support from the army and what happens to their chances if they fail to get the support? How will such people get the support unless they canvass for it and can that be done without running the risk of an accusation of infiltrating the army?
The call for resignation of Ministers. their Deputies and assistants and al other Government officials who would be interested in politics is bound to lead to the situation whereby all those who remain in their posts will be either members or supporters of Dr Doe's party and all the other political parties, if they manage to get registered, will have to campaign against an incumbent government. That is a prospect that is going to prove a very daunting task indeed for Bacchus Mathews and the other brave people who have announced their intentions to form political parties. It will be interesting to see if and when Gen. Doe decides to divest himself of his military trappings for it is going to be awkward for the military
