Letters
Foreign Service being purged - rejoinder
I wish to refer to your article that appeared in the Talking Drums magazine 19 August, 1985, under the caption, "Foreign Service being purged" and would be most grateful if you could publish the following rejoinder:While it is true that all the Foreign Service Officers whose names were published in your magazine have been affected by the restructuring exercise embarked upon by the Foreign Ministry, it is woefully untrue that all the officers thus affected by the exercise were so affected because they had some dealings with the CIA as your article seems to connote. At least not in my case.
I cannot sell my conscience to indulge in any act that will be prejudicial to the interest of my nation, Ghana, and, for that matter, can never work for the CIA. I therefore challenge your 'reliable sources' for any proof of involvement with, or any correlation between the Foreign Ministry's purging exercise and the CIA affair in Ghana.
If, however, your paper has reliable information about CIA agents so affected by the exercise, you must be bold to print their names openly, instead of resorting to sensationalism and terming a well-meaning exercise as a result of the 'ripples from the CIA affair in Ghana.'
J.E. Adarkwah Dadzie,
Former Head of Chancery Rome, Italy
Dr De Graft Johnson and the Ghana Armed Forces
At the recent International Delegates Conference held in London on 23 August 1985 by the Ghana Democratic Movement the former Vice President had this to say of the Ghana Armed Forces:1. It was due to the insistence of these Corporate interests of the armed forces by the then Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Maj-Gen. Nunoo-Mensah which led to his removal from office."
2. Without suggesting whether the army should be disbanded or not Dr De Graft Johnson referred to Britain where, because the people have a stake in the British Society, they ensure that some of their best kids are despatched to the army. This is unlike Ghana where kids who have nothing useful to do in society are despatched to the army. The result as Dr De Graft Johnson pointed out, was the admission of men with Scottish, Togolese and other foreign parentage and doubtful backgrounds into the armed forces." (Talking Drums of 2 September 1995)
Dr De Graft Johnson has now deemed it fit to tell Ghanaians the true reasons for the removal of Maj-Gen. Nunoo-Mensah from office. This is very kind of him indeed, however belated, because it has helped to set the record straight. There are however a few more questions the Ghanaian public will like him to answer.
a. Why has it taken him so long to bring out this fact?
b. Why did the government persistently resist the opposition demand for the reasons for the removal of the CDS and the army Commander?
c. Finally, why was Maj-Gen. Quainoo, then Brigadier, also removed from office?
On the recruitment into the Ghana Armed Forces, the Doctor's observations are as unfortunate as they are irresponsible. One doubts very much if in any given society there is ever any- body with nothing at stake. Even the madman roaming the streets has a stake in society. The earlier our politicians start taking a balanced view of our country's ills and prescribing the correct remedies, the better it will be for us all.
The Doctor has all the praise for the British Army. He has forgotten however that the conduct of the British politician is such that the British soldier has no cause to question it. Does Dr De Graft Johnson believe honestly that any British Prime Minis- ter however arrogant will ever give the sort of answer Dr Limann gave Ghanaians when the opposition insisted on knowing the true reasons for the removal of both the CDS and the Army Commander from office after they had both refuted the govern- ment's stated reason of bickering between them? If the Doctor has forgotten his master's reply, here it is. That the opposition or anybody who cared was at liberty to accept and believe his explanation or accept the two officers' refusal. You have now told Ghanaians that the government's stated reason at the time was false.
This was not the only time a democratically elected government had been so arrogant and insulting to the electorate on national as well as constitutional matters in Ghana. The famous Sound killed and buried forever single-handedly in the First Republic is still very vivid in our minds. As for the records of the government of the Second Republic, it is outstanding. The infamous Sala Case and Busia's "No Court" declaration is one; the J.H. Mensah's Odomase Farm and that government's stand is another. Last but not least, is the labelling of a section of the population as being notoriously inward-looking.
For God's sake and for the good of our nation our politicians should stop taking undue advantage of the high degree of illiteracy in the Ghanaian society to insult their intelligence. The average illiterate Ghanaian is more intelligent than the politician cares to know and he will not take any insult from the politician.
The image which the Ghanaian soldier has now acquired in the eyes of the Ghanaian politician therefore has been forced on him by these apostles of democracy who once in power throw overboard all democratic processes. They resort to deceit, arrogance and try to stifle all opposition in order to remain in power. In the end the soldier as part of society and therefore with a stake in society resorts to the unortho- dox way of removing them from power. Who then is to blame for where we are now as a nation? On the question of other nationals serving in the Ghana Armed Forces, it is not peculiar to Ghana. In the British Army a whole regiment is made up entirely of foreigners - the Gurkahs.
I feel compelled to dilate on the Doctor's observation on other people's nationality because of the inherent insult to the Ghanaian public it contains. The statutory books are very explicit on the question of nationality in Ghana - People who think that by the virtue of letters they have after their names they can insult the intelligence of the majority illiterate Ghanaians must stop. Honestly if names are his worries, the Doctor should realise that there is nothing to choose between a De Graft Johnson and a Rawlings. Does the Doctor want to tell Ghanaians that by virtue of his coming from that corner of Ghana where maternal inheritance is practiced, he is a more acceptable Ghanaian than somebody else from another corner where paternal inheritance is practiced although they both are issues from mixed marriages? Or does the Doctor want to say because he is a third, fourth or even a tenth generation of a mixed marriage and therefore his origin has fallen into oblivion he is a more accepted Ghanaian than somebody else who is a first generation of a similar marriage and therefore his origin is readily traceable?
Let me now touch on the question of sincerity. The Doctor as the Vice President of Ghana kept quiet over the simple matter of removal of both the CDS and the Army Commander from office probably for the fear of differing with his party and the president and therefore losing the vice presidency and its attending comforts. But once out of office he decided to say the truth.
On the other hand, our Scottish friend has just published the law on inheritance which deprives his own children of what could otherwise have come to them because their mother ironically comes from the "maternal inheritance" corner of Ghana. This I think he has done because of the evils he has seen in the maternal inheritance system. Who then is being more sincere with Ghanaians?
Our serving soldiers should take note of Dr De Graft Johnson's remarks. They should sit up and revise their thinking. The other Ranks especially should stop building one world for themselves and another for the officers and stick together because given the chance the politician will do away with them because he does not think them qualified to serve in the forces.
Those of us on retirement will like to see you there because although we may have nothing at stake in society, we still have a lot at stake in the armed forces. For who knows if the politicians, after succeeding in doing away with you, will not cut off our pensions which we earned from the armed forces because we are not qualified to have served in their ideal forces in the first place.
Major John Sokpor (rtd), London
Lest we shall be late
The former president, Dr Hilla Limann and his deputy Dr De Graft Johnson have spoken about their stewardship and the state of things in Ghana and it cannot pass without my comments. Though I was not a member of the People's National Party, I was also not against them.I would like first of all, to thank them for making people aware of what they had planned for the country before being overthrown from power. I would also like to thank Dr De Graft Johnson for his speech at the recent delegates conference of the Ghana Democratic Movement in London. There is much food for thought, especially when one looks at the constitutional and political developments of Ghana. He said: "After 28 years of independence we are still fighting for independence."' The wanton destruction of human beings with flimsy excuses and curtailment of the individual's freedom in all spheres, are common in Ghana now. Where do we go from here?
It is my opinion that democracy had not been practised in Ghana till we saw the government of Dr Limann. Was it not Dr Limann who lost a court case involving the then chief justice Mr F.K. Apaloo? Which African head of state has made a country's constitution work like Dr Limann did?
If Rawlings could tell the PNP government under Dr Limann that he was no accountant to give an account of his three months' term of office, how could he become an administrator now? Where did he learn administration after September 1979?
We must remind ourselves of a passage in the bible where a woman told Jesus that if He had been around and had come to him her child wouldn't have died and immediately Jesus woke the child up from death to life. If Ghanaians had averted the overthrow of Dr Limann, very many people, including the respected lawyers and the retired army officer, would probably not have died.
Let us put pressure on this regime to leave the scene and hopefully that could help stop military rule in Africa. When that is done the OAU, which is becoming a gathering of soldiers, will give way to men of intellect to discuss and find lasting solutions to Africa's problems.
I charge the professional bodies, the NUGS Campaign for Democracy in Ghana, and all those who want democ- racy and a popularly elected government for Ghana, to act now.
Joe Nkansah, Körnerstr, W. Germany.
Rawlings, another score of shame!
Please permit us to comment on the abusive language Flt-It Rawlings poured on Bishop Akwasi Sarpong, captioned "Rawlings outburst on Bishop Sarpong", in which he is reported to have said: "If I were not a Head of State I would have punched him right on the nose. I would have dealt with him physically personally" - (Talking Drums, August 12, 1985).We would like to point out to Rawlings and his henchmen that they should not use Ghana as a laboratory to carry out political experiments. This speech clearly demonstrated that as a Head of State he is intolerant. How- ever, if he thinks he is the strongest man in Ghana, he should join the fistic sport- the Ghana Boxing Association and fight and bring high honours to the nation as D.K. Poison and Azumah Nelson have done. Rawlings' two regimes (AFRC and PNDC) have brought nothing to Ghana but shame and the spilling of innocent people's blood.
In another development Ghana's Former Vice President, Dr De Graft Johnson, speaking out from exile, (Talking Drums August 12, 1985), said Rawlings' AFRC collected taxes over C600m, but only C22m was accounted for. And when he (Rawlings) was asked to help with the investigations he refused on the grounds that he was not an accountant. Here, we would like to ask him whether he is now a politician to rule Ghana.
To conclude, we would like to appeal to any civilian government which will take over from Rawlings to pass a law to ban all those who served under military regimes to be subjected to public accountability as Argentina is now doing. If this is done in Ghana and other African states, it will deter few opportunistic soldiers from toppling democratically elected governments arbitrarily.
Clement A Donkor and Emmanuel Diawuo,
W. Germany.
FOR OPINIONS THAT CHALLENGE YOUR BELIEFS WHERE ELSE BUT IN TALKING DRUMS
