Rawlings: Proper governance, integrity and accountability can prevent coups

Ghana’s former President, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings has in a meeting with the family of late National Liberation Council (NLC) member, Anthony Kwashie Deku, stated that the 1966 military intervention did not come as a surprise to many because of the unhealthy and oppressive atmosphere that existed in the country at the time.

He also described as not good enough, the current democratic dispensation, which does not have effective instruments to contain corruption and remove socio-economic injustice.

At the meeting on Wednesday, President Rawlings also stressed that the best way of preventing military interventions is through proper governance, integrity and accountability.

“The Ghana Armed Forces as I used to know it is an institution with a very high level of integrity and quite frankly much as we are happy with the fact that military interventions are becoming events of the past we also must wake up to the fact that the proper way of preventing those interventions is through proper governance, maintaining integrity in government and remaining accountable to the people.

“You don’t prevent military intervention through destroying the code of ethics and code of discipline in that institution (military).”

Flt Lt Rawlings cautioned against the culture of denial and dishonesty, asserting that while there was no doubt that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah did a wealth of good for Ghana, power has its way of corrupting us.

“Nkrumah was and is a man we admire, respect and revere for what he stood for but sometimes some of us end up in a state of denial and want to refuse the fact that power has its way of corrupting.”

“Let us not be so dishonest, so unethical, so immoral as to pretend we didn’t know what brought about 66, what brought about 73 and what brought about June 4 and the subsequent follow up, 31st December.

OPPOSITION
“Mind you I am not saying that the opposition did not harass and make things almost ungovernable for Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, but at the same time his machinery of state security apparatus went so far as to create a rather unhealthy and oppressive atmosphere. He therefore made the military and police intervention of 1966 a very welcome intervention for Ghanaians,” the former President said.

Flt Lt Rawlings described as unfortunate the demise of Mr. Deku, saying he chose a career that put him in a situation to play an important role for his country.

He said what Mr. Deku and his colleagues did in 1966 was a very bold action.

Former President Rawlings expressed concern that the corrective input military interventions have impacted on our political, economic and social life is something we still have not been able to replace with some of our constitutional institutions.

Spokesperson for the Deku family, Kaff Deku informed the former President that the former Commissioner of Police passed away on April 26.

The late Deku was one time Commissioner of Education and Local Government and later a member of the Council of State.

LIONEL VAN LARE DOSOO
Also to call on President Rawlings was the family of Lionel Van Lare Dosoo, immediate past Board Chairman of Ecobank, who died suddenly on Saturday May 9.

Professor John Ahetor who led the delegation said the final funeral rites had been scheduled tentatively for the weekend of July 3, 2015.

Former President Rawlings in expressing sympathies said he was shocked by the news. He described Mr. Dosoo as having done a pretty good job to bring reforms to the banking sector.

“If all of us can share our little visions like he did it will bring about the changes that we want to see,” he noted.

Present at the meetings were former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings and former Foreign Minister, Ambassador Victor Gbeho.

Written by Isaac Yeboah