The Spy Drama: an epilogue
Elizabeth Ohene
"A new exchange rate: one half-caste to eight genuine Ghanaians" is the saying that has been evolved in the wake of the Ghana-US spy swap, Elizabeth Ohene writes.One thing you can always say for Ghanaians - they would ferret out a humourous part in any situation. This front was greatly on display during the famine and scarcities of 1983 when faced with death from starvation, the unsinkable wit of the Ghanaian kept many people alive.
This time, it is not exactly a life and death but it is still a very grave matter. Thus the spy exchange between the government of Ghana and the US has given birth to a new saying characteristic of the sardonic humour that has been the defence of the people against all the adversities they face.
'New Exchange Rate: one half-caste to eight genuine Ghanaians' is the saying that has been evolved in the wake of the exchange of eight Ghanaians and their families for Michael Agbotui Sousoudis. The gripe stems from the fact that Michael Sousoudis' father is a Greek and his mother is a Ghanaian and to the purists, that means that he is not a true Ghanaian. The 'half-caste' being in a quirky position in Ghanaian society.
The idea persists in the minds of most people particularly in the rural area that 'half- castes' are products of liaisons between "loose moral Ghanaian women" and white men of indifferent ability and morality among their own people and a lingering stigma is still attached to them. Among such people no count is taken of the fact that some of the half-castes are products of marriages between Ghanaians (mostly women) and whites (mostly men) as against births outside marriage.
On the other hand, there existed among the half castes (and they exist mostly in the urban areas) a feeling of superiority over their fair 'colour' as against the black skins of the other Ghanaians without white blood. Some would say that the majority of the half-castes have had huge chips on their shoulders because they did not have fathers and because they were aware of the latent prejudice against them. All these and much more should be read into the "one half-caste for eight genuine Ghanaians". For people who express such sentiments, it does not matter to them that the 'genuine' Ghanaians might have spied for a foreign nation and their loyalties therefore being suspect.
The resentment that has been prevalent in the Ghanaian reaction to the swap also revolves around the identity of Sousoudis. Many people have asked that if Sousoudis were not the cousin of Flt-Lt Rawlings, would the Ghanaian authorities have been able to exchange him for eight Ghanaians. The feeling persists that the exchange was done because Flt-Lt. Rawlings wanted his cousin back at any cost, even if it meant giving away any number of Ghanaians to the Americans.
Behind the reaction of the Ghanaians is also the feeling that the spying, if spying there was, was a political action against the regime of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC). This does not seem to be borne out by the trial that some of the accused persons had spied for the CIA over a period of 15 years, which, if true, would mean that the action spread over the regimes of Busia, Acheampong, Akuffo, Rawlings (Mach I), Limann and Rawlings (Mach II), also known as the present PNDC.
These have been ideological colourations and political persuasions, some of which were friendly to the US and to have been retained by the CIA throughout the period seems to point more towards a purely financial arrangement rather than spying for ideological reasons. Unfortunately, since the trial never did take place and the accused persons were persuaded to plead guilty as part of the deal, the world will never know the truth about the allegations.
Then there is the other point of unease among Ghanaians. The Ministry of Interior issued a statement that eight Ghanaians had been stripped of their citizenships and that appears to have raised the ire of many people. The stripping of citizenship, especially of genuine Ghanaians, appears to many to be beyond the powers of a Ghanaian govern-ment, especially one headed by a half- caste at that. The idea that the Ministry of Interior can simply strip a Ghanaian of his citizenship simply by the issuance of a statement appears like the ultimate weapon of intimidation and repression that the government has assumed and it has sent shock waves among the people. Other cynical observers have asked whether the stripping of citizenship is more terrible than the regular execution by firing squad of citizens. Of what use is a citizenship to a dead citizen, better to be alive and be stripped of your citizenship than to be a dead Ghanaian!
That seems to be the general attitude of many Ghanaians who have refused to be impressed by any talk of 'treachery' among those who have been exchanged for Sousoudis. The big joke currently (and people swear the story is true) is the large number of Ghanaians who have been applying to join up and get employed by the CIA! People reckon that if the only way of getting into the USA without the normal difficulties encountered by Ghanaians was to be a CIA agent, then they were quite ready.
But it is obviously not only ordinary Ghanaians who want to go to the US, it appears that Michael Sousoudis himself is reluctant to burn his boats with the US. At his triumphant press conference after his return. he was anxious that the Ghanaian press should play the story down. Remember, he told the journalist that I still have a daughter in the US and the word is that the Ghanaians tried to negotiate into the deal, an assurance that he will be allowed back into the US to see his child. Observers are curious about how long he will be able to stay in Ghana before his urge to travel overcomes him. In the meantime, he is reported to be full of enthusiasm that his exploits will stand him in good stead when he opens his offices for 'business' as he is planning to do.
A postscript to the ambivalent US- Ghana attitude. When the US retaliated to the Ghana action by expelling four Ghanaian diplomats, one of them pleaded to be allowed to stay back in the US because his wife was expecting a baby in a month to six weeks time. The US State Department has allowed him and his family to stay until after the expected happy event! Cynical observers have commented on the number of Ghanaian diplomats serving the US who ensure that at least one child is born in the US so that a member of the family can hold an American passport for the case of future travel.
