Comment
Spy Games
Behind the James Bond image, everybody assumes there is a less glamorous reality, but nothing to pre-occupy the average person. The superpowers play the game to their own set of rules and appear to understand each other. Once in a while somebody gets killed or arrested, but the superpowers don't seem unduly disturbed.
When a country like Ghana gets involved in spy games with one of the super powers, the consequences are likely to be murkier than normal. Since there is a court case in the Sousoudis-Scranage affair, it is obviously difficult to comment on it at any great length.
It is difficult, for example, to appreciate that the Ghanaian national before the courts has been involved in any criminal activity in the United States. It is not only because whatever he allegedly did, occurred in Accra, one is aware that it is the kind of activity that ends up in people being exchanged over bridges when the people involved belong to the super power countries.
It can only be supposed that when all is over, Mr Sousoudis will only be sent back to Ghana, maybe over a bridge.
In the meantime, the repercussions of the case in Ghana are nothing like a walk over a bridge to freedom. Since the spying scandal broke, the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) has ordered the arrests of certain individuals and the freezing of assets with the clear implication that such people are involved in the spy scandal.
Since the Americans themselves announced that the identities of their Ghanaian informants have been exposed to the PNDC, the government appears to have been given a blank and unprecedented opportunity to clamp down on their critics. It is a no-win situation for any Ghanaian that is so daubed - protestation of innocence will inevitably meet with knowing smiles. The identities of four of the people who have been arrested in the wake of the story show that the episode has come as a most convenient cover for the PNDC to move against the critics of the regime.
There is Mr Obeng-Manu who has been a very long time critic of the Rawlings regime. He was arrested and incarcerated in 1983 after he held a press conference condemning the atrocities of the regime and calling for a return to constitutional rule. He was released from custody about a year ago but he has not been silent. Two months ago, taking Mr Justice D.F. Annan at his word that Ghanaians should all speak their minds on the form of government most suitable for Ghana, at a seminar organised by the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) he made an impassioned plea for a return to multi-party constitutional rule.
There is Mr Sammy Okudzeto. He is President of the Professional Bodies Association and the Association and Mr Okudzeto have never made any secret of their opposition to the PNDC. He was arrested and held for almost a year without charges because of his opposition to the December 31, 1981 coup. He is currently engaged in a court battle with one of the two government controlled daily newspapers that he is suing for having instigated mob violence against him. At every opportunity, Mr Okudzeto has called for a return to constitutional rule.
There is Dr John Bilson, a successful medical practitioner who was also a leader of one of the political parties that contested the 1979 elections. He has made no secret of his dislike of the Rawlings regime.
Then there is Mr Tommy Thompson, the proprietor of the 'Free Press' about the only newspaper in Ghana that has consistently called for a return to constitutional rule. In 1983, he and his editor then, Mr John Kugblenu, and a columnist Mr Mike Adjei were arrested and kept in jail for over a year. The paper itself was closed down by a mob with the PNDC disclaiming responsibility.
Against all odds, Mr Thompson resurrected the 'Free Press' earlier this year and has been articulating the opinions of those who believe that elective and representative government can work in Ghana. The paper has tried to promote a debate on the subject and has drawn attention to failings of the PNDC and generally carried stories and opinions that the government controlled press would not carry. He too has been arrested once again and his assets frozen.
It is difficult to imagine that even in the world of 007 and George Smiley, things could be so pat and convenient and all the bad guys should be so easily identifiable.
The PNDC is obviously using this opportunity to silence the few people who still have the courage almost four years after the coup to dare to be different. It cannot be mere coincidence that all those who have publicly denounced the rule by a clique and advocated the return to elective and representative rule under a constitution should be the ones to have been arrested.
While Mr Sousoudis has the advantage at least of knowing that his case and his fate will be keenly watched by the whole world and his rights will be vigorously protected by lawyers and an age-old judicial system, those that are arrested in Ghana will not, under the PNDC, expect anything better than a kangaroo trial by so- called Public Tribunalsthat operate often in secret. They are likely to be held in a jail without charges for an indefinite period and some people have been known to die there or soon after their release.
It is perhaps instructive to learn that Ghana's Ambassador to the United States has gone before the American courts to ask for the release on bail into his custody of Mr Sousoudis, even if the request was rejected.
It is difficult to tell what the rules of these games are and what remedies are available to innocent people caught in the middle of these games.
Would the American CIA, for example, have a responsibility towards those who are being made to suffer as a result of the atmosphere generated in Ghana by the Scranage affair? Would the rules permit the release of the magic list allegedly passed on to the Ghanaian authorities so that innocent people will not be daubed CIA agents and consequently imprisoned forever?
