Book Review
Batsa tells his story
Title: The Spark From Kwame Knrumah To Limann
Author: Kofi Batsa.
Publisher: Rex Collings Ltd Price: £5.25 Paperback
Reviewer: Ben Mensah
"Success attracts criticism. Perhaps I was a target for these accusations of corruption as much as any because I was both a successful businessman and was now in position of power in the PNP. And I was, it must be remembered, Chairman of the Ghana Industrial Holdings Corporation which was the largest industrial organization in black Africa."Anyone conversant with the contemporary history of Ghana will without doubt, identify Mr Kofi Batsa, the veteran Ghanaian journalist with the politician and businessman being referred to above. I have just finished reading a book by Mr Batsa, "THE SPARK -From Kwame Nkrumah to Limann' and was particularly fascinated by the author's expressed concern over the various critical comments that have been made and continue to be made about him...
In the PNP era, he writes, a major accusation against him was that he was the de facto President and that President Hilla Limann was a front man for him and other schemers.
On March 19, 1982, three months after the coup which overthrew the PNP government, Dr Limann said to a BBC question: 'You mentioned Kofi Batsa. He was anxious to work. That is what I know about him. If there was anything to be done, he was always ready whether it was daytime or nights. He worked". The inclusion of this statement in defence of Kofi Batsa and the author's own explanation of his various decisions and actions in this book are obviously aimed at healing the 'memories of the nastier moments' of Batsa's life.
There are other aspects of the book I also find interesting. The role of the armed forces in the mismanagement of the affairs of Ghana is a crucial topic whose discussion I find very useful. Under the title "Destabilization Processes", Mr Kofi Batsa enumerates the numerous coup plots hatched during the PNP era by sections of the armed forces and with Flt-Lt Rawlings as the brain behind them all. Mr Batsa wrote: 'Before I go into the details of the coup plots, I want to stress the point that J J Rawlings subverted the soldiers by impressing them with the power they could secure and by promising them the loot when the coup was successful. The Limann administration was bedevilled with so many attempts at coups from 1979 to 1981 that it was a wonder it was not toppled earlier".
He went to give vivid accounts of the various clandestine activities of the soldiers which were known to the intelligence units. Referring to a 'Buller Plan' for instance, Mr Batsa wrote "weapons for this project were already in a secret cache on the Legon/Kwabenya road. Security agents knew the location".
After reading this part of the book the question I wanted to ask was, 'why couldn't the government, of which Batsa was a prominent member, invite the media and the general public to this secret place to see the arms prior to arresting the soldiers involved and prosecuting them before the law courts to be covered by the media instead of resorting to press releases which often appeared unconvincing and also deploying personnel of the military intelligence to pursue the counter productive tactics of following Rawlings and group to wherever they went?
In his position as one of the most powerful men in both Dr Nkrumah and Dr Limann's governments, Kofi Batsa's comments on the various facets of the Ghanaian political life in his book are caustic and dramatic and I quote snippets here.
His comments are expected to attract various reactions from his readers. I find it strange that Mr Batsa did not assign a reason in his book for the listing of only northern Ghana politicians as the PNP presidential candidates
As regards Members of Parliament in the Limann era, Mr Batsa wrote "they did not make the effort to outgrow the stage where Parliament is merely a glorified debating society, providing a platform for the exhibitionism of politicians, acting as the battleground for narrow sectional aims, incapable of defending the needs and hopes of the people. It appeared some of them were growing paranoid and therefore took delight in bizarre fracas".
On Dr Limann before he became President Mr Batsa wrote: 'He was not an experienced politician, he was not an accomplished speaker; and he did not have a full grasp of the topics on which he was required to speak. I spoke out again this candidate. We had adopted a Presidential Constitution, modelled to some extent on the American pattern and providing for an Executive President who would wield great powers and be at the heart of the executive machine of the nation".
On the symbol of the PNP he wrote, "Our symbol the palm tree. As the Akan for palm tree is 'Abe', the joke in the market - not encouraged by any of us - was that ABE stood for Ayeh Kumi, Batsa and Egala - said to be the makers of the new party".
On Nkrumah he wrote, "after the attempt on his life by Corporal Ametewe he moved one of his offices to the Burma Camp. I thought he made a public symbolic gesture as well as providing a clue as to the state of his mind. He claimed and no doubt thought he was protecting the Presidency but in a way he was putting himself into the hands of the military and he was distancing himself from the people - the people who had been his source of strength"
Mr Batsa also talks about the conflicting aims of Dr Nkrumah's foreign policy, reflected in a speech the late President made in Addis Ababa and revealed his displeasure about the legislation establishing the one party state. Despite all these views Mr Batsa remained a Parliamentarian in the Nkrumah regime and a powerful man in the Limann government. His comments are expected to attract various reactions from his readers.
I find it strange that Mr Batsa did not assign a reason in his book for the listing of only northern Ghana politicians as the PNP presidential candidates. There must obviously be a reason for the PNP to limit the selection of its Presidential candidates to Dr Limann, Egala, Dr John Nabila, Mumuni Bawumia and Dr Andah and Mr Batsa ought to have explained it.
There are only minor typographical errors particularly in respect of the spelling of Ghanaian names but on the whole I welcome the publication of the SPARK for the simple reason that a veteran politician has recorded his thoughts and beliefs not only for scrutiny by his contemporaries but also for the benefit of posterity. It is a positive effort which adds to the scant store of literature on Ghana's political history.
