Letters
Corruption is alive and thriving in Tema customs
Bribery and corruption, the canker which the PNDC attacked vigorously on seizing power is thriving at the Tema customs department. One would have thought that with the support of the much discussed WDCs and PDCs who are supposed to be the incorruptible vanguard of the revolution, business at this busy port would be handled better and faster.But what I saw recently when I visited Ghana shocked me. I shipped a container full of various household effects which, for obvious reasons, was necessary if I could satisfy my family and relatives who had written to me about the terrible hardship facing them.
The farce began in the customs examination room where almost everybody around demanded to have a piece of the action. It was unbelievable. After loading and unloading, checking and cross-checking and payment of all the necessary duties and taxes, the customs offices demanded to be given some of the commodities and money. The gateman watching from a distance also closed in and claimed his share of the "booty".
I was warned that if I did nothing to appease these hordes of vultures clearing of the goods could be delayed and I may even lose the whole assignment through pilferage.
It seems to me that these disgraceful acts at the Tema Harbour are the direct result of the deteriorating economic situation in the country coupled with the numerous regulations on imports of goods into the country.
I suggest that if tax and duty must be imposed on personal belongings (which I think is necessary for some specific items) then the so-called standardisation must be relaxed. The country needs revenue and therefore it would be better to impose a tax on goods entering the country. For the govern- ment to reap the full benefit, customs officers must be checked to stop the disgraceful acts going on at the Tema Port.
Kwadwo Oppong, Stuttgart, West Germany
The case of political detainees in Ghana
As a further contribution to the article on political detainees in Ghana, published in the Talking Drums of September 17, 1984, I wish to add that the plight of the Intelligence Operators of the MI has been more serious than the public know.Among the early deaths since the December 31, 1981 coup were S/Sgt. Seidu Azar, S/Sgt. Awudu, Cpl. Eduku and others not yet accounted for. After the June 1983 jail break, following an appeal by the same Major General Arnold Quainoo to our people to report back, Sgt. Edmund Peprah, Cpl. Aboagye (driver in the surveillance team) and Cpl. Odamtey were killed in cold blood on sight when they reported to the Air Force Station. Sgt. Arthur was also killed in the Brong Ahafo Region when he was arrested.
Those who returned from the UN Middle East Operation and got arrested also included Sgt. Sampson Opoku, Sgt. Samuel Pebi, Sgt. Essel etc. S/Sgt. Emmanuel Afari (a Buddhist) wrote to me on August 14, 1982, informing me of the reliable information he had received about the intention of WOII Kwame Agbayizah to hunt for him until he was arrested. This was because he suspected us (his former working mates in the Sec. Int.) for being the cause of his dismissal from the Military Intelligence Service.
S/Sgt. Emmanuel Afari was on pension and working with the Obuasi Mines under the Late Major Acquah (also an Intelligence Officer). He was arrested at Burma Camp a month later when he went to collect the rest of his pension.
Cpl. Simon Amedzake (Physical Sec.) was in my team when we carried out the arrests and interrogations of Tsatsu Tsikata, Kojo Tsikata, P.V. Obeng, Kwesi Adu, etc, during the Harrison Bulla (the revolutionary from British Honduras, now Belize) case, on their plot to overthrow the Government.
To my mind, we carried out our duties and assignments to the very best of our ability as soldiers, subject to the oath of the allegiance to the Constitutionally elected Government and the President of the Third Republic of Ghana. We worked assiduously, never co-operated with the enemies of the Constitution signed by Flt-Lt. J.J. Rawlings himself in 1979. WOII Agbayizah and the rest who betrayed the organisation had rather found favour in Ghana today.
I would like to conclude that we have paid greatly for our sincerity and loyalty as soldiers, but would never regret our role in the Ghanaian Society. On the day of reckoning, our actions would be appraised, the names. of the detained, the exiles, would be mentioned and the dead would be praised and honoured.
Another Ex-MI Operator in Exile
Hamburg, West Germany
Political executions
Mismanagement and revolutions are as old as Adam and Eve. According to the Bible, Lucifer misused his beauty and revolted and was thrown away, but was not executed. Adam and Eve misused their privileges and were punished and were not executed.Execution as a means of punishment. was introduced by mankind. This form of punishment has been abandoned by the so-called civilized nations and has been substituted by imprisonment. Therefore, a time has come when the so-called Third World nations should substitute executions of all kinds with imprisonment.
Through executions, Africa and other Third World nations have lost a lot of their intellectuals, qualified and able-bodied men and women.
It was through executions during the colonial and slave trade era that Africa lost its most intelligent men and women and thus remained under- developed up to today. There has been no country in the world which achieved discipline, economic or political stability by means of executions. Hitler executed more than one third of his political opponents but did not achieve his aim; rather he sowed more seeds of revolutions against himself. Idi Amin (Big Dada) of Uganda executed more than half a million people during his rule but in the end he failed.
I think what the Third World countries should do to achieve economic and political stability is to develop an effective method of public accountability and personal discipline in the populace.
It was lack of discipline and the disregard for the law of the land by the ruling classes that led to the downfall of so many regimes in the Third World countries the Nigerian Second Republic is a noteworthy example.
When a government is ousted, as in the case of Nigeria, it will be in the interest of the nation to do everything possible to bring corrupt politicians and their sycophants to book especially with respect to illegally acquired wealth. Sometimes it may be necessary to appeal to the conscience of the international community to recover ill-gotten monies deposited in foreign banks.
Omenukor Venantius,
The President of the Nigerian Students Union, Hamburg, W. Germany
