Letter from Accra
Below is a private letter from a student in Ghana to his friend in the United Kingdom. We reproduce it for the simple reason that it epitomises the concern of ordinary Ghanaians to the social and economic uncertainties and reflects on the hopes and aspirations of the youth of Ghana today.Dear Jack,
The NUGS elections are due to be held in Tech this year, and an interesting development is unfolding itself. The Government is pumping a lot of dough into that campaign. Their candidate is an army sergeant student who lost an election as floor rep!! and who uses a Pajero that is the new fashionable revolutionary limousine like a luxurious Range (Land) Rover, on campus. This has heated passions at Tech but rest assured we'll come through all right. They are wasting their money, students are past the stage where money can influence them - that's enough for the students front.
And Gadaffi visited Ghana! - an event which accelerated the desire of Houphouet Boigny and Eyadema to resume links with Israel, though both had covert relations since the break in '74. Gadaffi brought five planeloads of commandos, his own bed, food and water and his soldiers had Continental, Ambassador and Star hotels stripped of their guests so they could stay for the three-day visit. It was a harrowing experience for Rawlings and Tsikata as their own troops were brushed aside brusquely by these trained murderers.
Muammar himself I heard and saw at the Great Hall - he was 24 hours late, spoke in a funny fashion- quite unrevolutionary, in fact, and indeed his platitudes about imperialism, and racism, etc, etc, went down so badly that within two days, every- one had forgotten about them. You get the feeling that he's either been given slow poison by some western agencies or is a tired sated or jaded man. Alternatively if this (what we saw) is what he calls radicalism and revolutionary posture, then Rawlings is 10x better than him! Obviously the Libyan political psyche is non-existent and therefore cannot be awakened or stimulated to react meaningfully to such lunacy because that's what makes political animals of us humans...well that was Gadaffi....
It appears to me and others that quite a number of people are dying here and abroad in conditions and situations which must make us all the more ready to bear the task ahead. A whole generation of Ghanaians in the worlds of trade, finance, academia, politics and just society persons are passing away quietly, unsung and unheralded just because the times do not favour their political beliefs and their aspirations, hopes and dreams for this country. Familiar faces are fading, who shall replace them but us and our friends. This is a clarion call to inspiration, to action, to the defeat of apathy, the conquest of panic and the victory of our cause. And I know that our perseverance will result in something good soon...
Which leads me to this J.H. Mensah affair. It is an excellent idea except J.H.'s natural impetuosity and rashness over- whelmed such an act of utter belief in his democratic philosophy. Here, people insulted him because of his naive incompetence and not because he made the attempt; for that he has at least given a clear warning that the opposition is not sleeping nor are they wasting their waking hours ... which also reminds me that the PNP never lost out in this revolution.
Rumours circulating for three months that the IMF has directed Rawlings to legitimise his rule by organising an election has seen Botsio, etc, feverishly organising themselves under an Nkrumah Mausoleum front and indeed, Tettegah, the envoy to Moscow, is back to either lend a hand or help Kojo Tsikata to stage-manage the OATUU elections (more later). But in all this, the government faces a big problem: the workers of Ghana are awakening and in a big way...
Jimmy Carter never forgot that he's known as a human rights champion. He is said to have chided Rawlings about it.
Soussoudis as you are aware, returned to an organised welcome but appears to have lost favour with Rawlings and Tsikata who believe he's become an American agent!! sounds like a spy novel by Forsythe eh!! You know these Afro-Americans can be most annoying to us - how can a person without 'O' levels (Soussoudis) be attracted to a highly educated Sharon Scranage well, that's past and gone and nobody's the wiser...
Some four weeks ago, a Catholic father was found dead at Bortianor Beach allegedly having drowned in the sea. Investigations show that bearded Reverend Father Kukah an Ewe SVD brother, was mistaken for bearded Father Palmar Buckle editor of the Standard which has been banned, and was abducted by government agents and murdered!! Father Buckle of course has fled to Abidjan - and the West still publicly think Kojo T. and his brother Jerry would ever change...I think the plan was to kill the editor, then lift the ban on the paper and see who'll dare castigate the government again using the Standard but now they got the wrong person, the ban is still in force. For this and the harsh budget, Susanna Alhassan, PNDC member resigned officially on grounds of ill- health...
And Jimmy Carter was here a week ago! As far as I'm concerned, that man's visit was unnecessary and one which has been exploited by the PNDC. Just ask any conservative friend of yours the meaning of Lenin's phrase "useful idiot" - I think Jimmy Carter is playing this new role. But Carter never forgot that he's known as a human rights champion. In one of the confidential meetings at the Castle, he is said to have complained about the violations of rights in Ghana under Rawlings - the killings, secret and open, the abductions and the detentions. Yeah, that was Carter...
The Western media obviously must be in the pay of the IMF because some funny things going on economically are praised daily by the Western press and touted locally as if they are gospel. No matter the extent of damage to one's economy, hasn't anybody told them that periodic devaluation of this kind, 200% since '83, is fatal!!
One thing I can say is that one day the whole edifice will collapse and they'll be shocked because they've not prepared themselves and their readers and listeners for it...
Sometimes too it appears to one to be a plot to let all these thugs stew in their own juice till a coalition of interests brings all the facets of Ghanaian population together against this government because just read this last one... After this, I'll post this letter whether you like it or not...
On 2nd January, 1986, Kwesi Botchwey had a tough time from Kwesi Pratt during question time of his annual press con- ference reviewing the economy and giving indications of future policy. Dr Botchwey took 20 good minutes attempting to answer Pratt's question on deteriorating living conditions as against the statistics quoted by Botchwey on improvements and yet incredibly failed to answer the question! A week later in a television interview, he called Pratt a pseudo-scientist who has misapplied what he had got from free education up to university level. Needless to add, Pratt was invited to the camp and the Castle three times and he refused to be so invited.
But my brother his message had gone home... Some two weeks after the press conference, the cedi was devalued 50% again from C60 to the dollar to C90 to the dollar, the daily wage went to C90 a day and the fuel price jumped from C105 to C150 a gallon!!! To crown it all, the wage parity which was introduced in '83 and which saw a messenger earning C2200 whilst his boss took home C2500 was abandoned, and abandoned completely in favour of a policy which was even wider in the differences between messenger and his boss than was practised in Limann's time...The TUC rightly calculated the basic daily take to be C105 but the government countered that it would be C135 if you add all allowances, but since only some received allowance and, indeed, the argument is about minimum wage, this government's point is rather foolish and insulting and this the workers are not letting escape in speeches of solidarity with workers' government etc, etc. To add insult to injury, the government claims the tri- partite committee which decides wages is a consultative body and not endowed with decision making!!!
Meanwhile Accra-London economy is C125,000!! Something had to give one way or the other and it did. Two weeks ago , Tema workers 10,000 strong and over (this, my friend is a conservative estimate) staged a demonstration against the govt and were only prevented from coming to Accra by military vehicles blocking the roads to Accra. Not even the threat by the police and the army to fire and cocking their guns could stop this demo which was led by the Tema People's Militia...The soldiers and policemen were invited to join the demo but declined but who knows next time...
They stormed the house of Jerry's mother at Tema and harassed the poor woman and the writing on the placards, and the songs against Jerry and his men - it was wild!!! Predictably the TUC leaders in Tema were arrested and detained and you know what happened the GHAIP workers issued an ultimatum that if they were not freed immediately, they would burn the refinery-yeah, their leaders were let free after being given beer and sandwiches!
Then last Friday, the national reps all over the country met and passed a resolution of no-confidence in the PNDC (urging) a handover and directing the national executive to take steps to realise this!!! I tell you these are good days when the workers, our "enemies" of yesterday are our friends by default. In the face of Monday all these problems, one of several scenarios is possible, (a) a referendum or election on the Kutu model; (b) an outright overthrow by the disgruntled followers of the regime or what I think is more likely, a truly revolutionary situation in which dictatorial rightist order will be imposed after chaos and bedlam à la Uganda on a small scale...
But there's no doubt in my mind that in a situation like ours where awareness has been the tradition like since the days of the Fante Confederation, it would be foolish to overestimate the safety that your own elaborate security organs give - what if you wake up one morning and all the discontented masses are in such organised numbers and with such fury that they over- whelm the ability of your security to contain it or refuse to shoot their relations you would simply take the next plane out of your own country announcing that you're going on holiday. Do you remember this story? It is the Shah's. It might happen here.
I would urge you to keep in touch with all sides - but not with all sides remember that Stalin would have been employed by the Tsarist police as an officer if the Revolution had failed - we don't want this sort. The problems of this country need united action by all men of goodwill to come to grips with but this excludes those who want to use democracy to destroy democracy.. you get me. Cheers,
Yaw Kakraba Wilson.
