39 Years Ago…

The late Prof. Kofi Abrefa Busia
Comets did not herald the treasonable ouster of one of Ghana's most outstanding academics and statesmen but snippets of his unfinished work continue to appear in manifestoes of political parties as Utopian programmes of sorts.

The elected government of Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia was on 13th January, 1972—39 years ago—overthrown by a gang of self-seeking military adventurists who dangled flimsy factors for their action in a desperate bid to sway Ghanaians to their side.

The treasonable act put paid to the grandiose project of transforming the country conceived by the egghead-turned-politician who was only 27 months into his tenure.

It was irritating to think that the adventurists, whose action truncated the development-oriented programmes of the late Prof Busia, could assume the authority to change a government they did not like for no apparent and sound reasons. It is an absurdity for which we continue to pay dearly in terms of retarded development and bad governance.

A similar fate befell Hilla Limann when another adventurist truncated his government and set the stage for further woes for the country.

Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia was overthrown in a coup d'etat which was not hinged on any sound premise by persons who did not possess the intellectual ability to steer a deprived country out of the woods. Suffice it to observe, however, that posterity has absolved him as contemporary politicians recall his ideals in commemoration.

Thirty-nine years ago his rural development programme, intended to address the rural/urban drift especially by the youth even in those days, was cut short by the coup.

The effects of the drift were enormous anomalies which informed his rural development programme to forestall what subsequent governments have tried to no avail to address.

Prof Busia's vision is today considered by objective observers as legendary. He embarked on a teak development mission, the products of which are today used in the transmission of electricity in the country and for export. Unfortunately and in a manner akin to ingratiation, we enjoy the fruits of his vision, rarely remembering how he conceived of the project.

His indigenisation programme by which he sought to have only Ghanaians manage certain aspects of economic activity was misconstrued by his opponents and given a bad name so they could hang him. So many years since then, there is a profound outcry by local traders about the usurpation of their businesses by mostly Chinese and others.

We recall with nostalgia the establishment under his aegis the Centre for Civic Education and the gratis distribution of the 'Ethics For Boys And Girls' publication. This was a moral development programme, the unquantifiable value of which defines the difference between debauchery and other social challenges common today, and the high moral standards which obtained in those days.