What The Papers Say
Daily Graphic, Ghana, October 7, 1985
The roots take hold.
Last Friday a durbar for NCO's drawn from various units of the Armed Forces was held at Burma Hall as part of an on-going programme to facilitate the sharing of ideas and the deepening of understanding of the Revolutionary process.Contributing to the opening session, the Rev. Father Joop Visser, a member of the Police Council, made a statement which reflects a profound understanding of the objective political reality of Ghana today.
He said that Ghana has reached a stage in her political development when nobody, by taking over Broadcasting House, can take control over the nation. This is because the network of interconnected pockets of power spread throughout the country in the form of the CDRS cannot be dismantled by radio announcements.
Like the roots of a plant, the CDRs have taken hold. In some cases, there may not be much visible on the surface, but the roots are there underneath. And in other cases, productive shoots have sprung up and are bearing fruits. But anyone who seeks to seize power, as in the past, by broadcasting to an apathetic and demoralised people is blind to the realities of today.
On June 19, 1983, we saw some evidence of the preparedness of ordinary people to stand and challenge, even at the cost of their lives, anyone who wanted to disrupt the process which we have entered into. And since then, we have gone further. The majority of Ghanaians now see the Government of the PNDC as an expression of their own aspirations.
Where there are, and have been gaps in communication, efforts are clearly being made to close those gaps whether by ensuring that Secretaries and other people in positions of leadership do not lose contact with people or become entangled in bureaucracy or by creating more 'forums' for the interchange of ideas.
Apart from occasions such as the durbar for NCO's, the seminars for Secretaries which also opened at the Military Academy and Training School (MATS) at Teshie last Friday, the kind of seminars now frequently being held all over the country and involving civil servants, chiefs, CDRs and TDCs, and the kind of operation due to begin in Ashanti this week, there are more and more ways in which the people are able to participate in the making of decisions.
For example, the selection and appointments of representatives of the PNDC at Regional and District levels involves an increasing degree of consultation with the people at the grassroots.
It is the combination of an increasing effort towards political and social education and interchange of ideas and the increasing involvement of the people which has made it difficult for them to either be used by the self-seekers or to accept passively any attempt to disrupt the process for which they have already paid dearly.
The Graphic is not aware of any period of so-called 'democracy' when there was ever as much opportunity as there is now for the ordinary person to influence decisions or when a government took such pains to explain, to share ideas and to communicate about those things which affect the lives of the ordinary people.
But it is still not enough and the Graphic calls for the further strengthening of the channels of communicating with the people.
Daily Times, Nigeria, October 12, 1985
Bleak independence anniversaries
Against the backdrop of shattered rosy dreams, most African countries seemed to have found little cause for a joyous cele- bration of their independence anniversaries this year. Uganda, particularly, was unfortunate in this regard. The one-time frightful 'kingdom' of the gargantuan Field Marshal Idi Amin marked its 23rd freedom anniversary, Wednesday, under the ominous clouds of an imminent civil war. The rebel soldiers of the National Resistance Army (NRA) led by Yoweri Museveni battle with the troops of General Tito Okello's ruling Military Council for the control of Uganda.Twenty-three years ago when the British lowered their Union Jack in the city of Kampala, the Ugandans must have toasted to the health of their new nation, and with mirthy hearts, congratulated themselves on shaking off the yoke of alien rule. Political freedom had come at long, long, last ushering in sweet liberty for all and life more abundant. Poor Ugandans. Little did they realise that the grand freedom ritual they performed on that historic morning of October 9, 1962, was a harbinger of all but what they bargained for..
Uganda today is not just a divided house. It is a house engulfed in an inferno. But the bitter disagreement among the occupants makes it nigh impossible for them to put out the conflagration. Museveni's NRA has flatly refused to budge not until President Okello agrees to the equal sharing of political offices. Sadly, Okello's central government appears to lack the military clout to force a battle-field settlement. To work out a compromise, there- fore, the two parties must, not for their own parochial gains but in the interest of the people they profess to serve. They should get back to the conference table without further delay.
The Ugandan situation presents a sad irony of military inter- vention in politics. Not too long ago, the arrival of the military on the political scene in this part of the world was received with unrestrained jubilation among the people. Raped, demoralised and alienated from the system by corrupt inept civilian administrations, the people had looked up to the emergent military regimes for salvation. But in Uganda, as in most African countries, the great hopes have continually been dashed to the rocks.
The silver linings are, nevertheless, still visible on the horizon. The hopes for the better tomorrow are not as elusive as they appear only if Africans can address themselves to the reality of their peculiar political situation. Their problems have less to do with the type or nature of government they operate but more with the attitudinal orientation of their political actors. The sooner they identify this accursed albatross and exorcise its evil influence, the greater the assurances for a happier tomorrow.
