1966 coup was the only justifiable coup - Arthur Kennedy

A leading member of the New Patriotic Party, Dr Arthur Kennedy

A leading member of the New Patriotic Party, Dr Arthur Kennedy, says the only coup in Ghana's political history which can be justified is the 1966 one which toppled the country's first president.

Dr Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown on February 24, 1966 while on his way to Hanoi, Vietnam for peace talks.

The coup d'etat, organized by dissident army officers, toppled the Nkrumah government and was promptly hailed by Western governments, including the U.S.

The first of a string of coups that bedeviled the country, the 1966 coup was said to be orchestrated by leaders of the UP tradition and carried out by dissident soldiers with backing from the CIA.

Although Prince Derick Adjei says that coup marked the beginning of Ghana's economic woes, Dr Kennedy thinks the coup was justified.

"Have all these coups helped our nation's development?" asked Joy FM's Super Morning Show host, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah.

In answer to the question, Dr. Kennedy said "largely no."

The only circumstance under which a coup may be justified, he argued, is when it is impossible for citizens to change the leadership of the country through the ballot box.

For him, since Dr Nkrumah had turned Ghana into a one-party state, it was impossible to change government through the ballot box.

Under such conditions, the only way to restore the rights of the people, he noted, is to remove the dictatorship.

The NPP guru said beyond the 1966 coup, none of the other intrusions into the political scene was warranted.

He accused the architects of some post '66 coups are perpetrating the very crimes they used at raison d'ente to stage such coups.

Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline