Why June 4 1979 was the beginning of Ghana’s woes

On 13^th January 1972, Lieutenant Colonel I. K. Acheampong led a group of mutinous army officers and deposed the elected government of the Progress Party and its leader, Prime Minister, Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia.

However, in 1978, General Acheampong was accused of economic mismanagement, and forced to resign by a group of army officers led by General Akufo.

General Akufo and the other disgruntled officers rechristened the government as the Supreme Military Council 2 (SMC2).

A sequential account is given, albeit anecdotally, that the harsh living conditions at the time prompted a group of patriotic citizens to stand up against the injustices and demanded a democratic rule.

But before the country could reach a consensus on the question of civilian rule, a group of discontented junior army officers led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings of blessed memory failed in their insurrection against General Fred Akuffo’s regime on 15^th May 1979, which led to the arrest and trial of Rawlings and his cohorts.

Nevertheless, the judicial process was halted prematurely by a group of soldiers sympathetic to Rawlings, who revolted on 4^th June 1979.

On that momentous day in June 1979, a group of rabble rousing soldiers went into a conniption-fit, deposed the government of the day, and unjustifiably released convicts and suspects from a lawful custody, including the founder of the NDC, the late J. J. Rawlings.

The June 4 1979 jailbreakers gleefully released suspects and convicts from a lawful penitentiary, deposed the government of the day and gave uncountable innocent Ghanaians a hell in the process.

After usurping General Akuffo and his Supreme Military Council (SMC 2) government, the stubbornly impenitent jailbreakers went ahead and formed their own government, which they called the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and appointed Flt. Rawlings as their chairman.

Rawlings and his clueless minions vowed to lustrate the country of the alleged rampant sleazes, corruption and social injustices which instigated their coup d’état.

In their desperate attempt to purge the country of the so-called injustices, the villainous conspirators carried out what they termed “house cleaning exercise”, and dealt with perceived offenders arbitrarily.

The rebellious jailbreakers proceeded with their fiendish intentions and callously exterminated prominent people including General Fred Akuffo, General Kutu Acheampong, General Akwasi Afrifa and many others.

After wickedly getting rid of individuals they viewed as a threat to their hidden agenda with an unabashed disgust, the jailbreaking cabals decided to conduct general elections for political parties in the same year-1979.

Following the successful election, Dr Hilla Limann of blessed memory and his People’s National Party (PNP) emerged victorious in 1979.

An account is given, though vividly, that the Limann government assumed office at a time when the economy was in deep crisis. The credit lines to the country had almost dried up and were blocked due to brutalities and confiscations at the harbours and other points of entry into Ghana by the coup making founders of the NDC.

However, the story is told, somewhat poignantly, that through careful negotiations, preparations and the implementation of pragmatic policies and programmes, the Limann government managed to arrest the economic challenges.

More significantly, commendable efforts were made to repay Ghana’s short-term debts, and, the Limann government demonstrated the ability to meet Ghana’s debt obligations.

Consequently, Dr Limann’s government managed within 18 months and restored virtually all traditional credit lines (Source: PNC).

But despite the dint of effort, Rawlings and his ravenous and irresponsible cohorts did not give Dr Liman and his PNP government the breathing space to govern the country, as the voracious geezers relentlessly breathed down the neck of President Limann.

As a matter of fact, Rawlings and his enthusiastic NDC coup making minions unfairly kept criticising Dr Limann’s administration for what the conspiratorial plotters perceived as economic mismanagement, until Rawlings and his jailbreaking geezers decided to depose Dr Limann.

Subsequently, Rawlings and the other mutinous jailbreakers took arms and succeeded in usurping the democratically elected government of Dr Hilla Limann on 31^st December 1981.

Rawlings and his rabble rousers unjustifiably supplanted power at the time when Ghana’s economy was blossoming steadily in 1981.

Indeed, Dr Hilla Limann and his PNP government were hitting the ground running, and therefore there was no need for anyone to disturb the ambiance.

Rawlings and his friends formed a government which they called the Provisional national Defence Council (PNDC) and appointed Rawlings as the chairman.

In their attempt to get rid of the alleged sleazes and corruption, many Ghanaians were unjustifiably murdered or tortured mercilessly for apparent infinitesimal offences.

Some market women were regrettably stripped naked in the public and whipped for allegedly hording their products or selling on high prices. While their male counterparts were wickedly shaved with broken bottles and whipped for offences that would not even warrant a Police caution in a civilized society.

As if that were not enough, three eminent High Court Judges and a prominent Army Officer were barbarically murdered by some mindless stooges of PNDC on 30th June 1982 for carrying out their constitutionally mandated duties.

“June 30th 1982 continues to remain a dark spot in the nation’s political history and a nightmare for all judges in the country, after the three High Court Judges namely, Mr. Justice Fred Poku Sarkodie, Mrs. Justice Cecilia Koranteng- Addow and Mr. Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyapong as well as a retired army officer, Major Sam Acquah, were callously murdered under strange circumstances at the Bundase Military Range in the Accra Plains, after being abducted on the night by some unidentified assailants (rawafrica.com).”

Rigorous investigations revealed that all the three Judges were sitting on review cases brought by citizens disgusted over the treatment meted out to them by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, which the military junta formed after June 4, led by Flt. Lt. Rawlings.

It was, however, reported that the Judges ordered the release of persons who had been unlawfully sentenced to long terms of imprisonment during the despotic rule of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC).

The Army Officer, Major Sam Acquah, was the head of administration who signed dismissal letters for some GIHOC workers, including one of the murder suspects, Joachim Amartey Kwei, whose services were terminated for invading and destroying property at the Parliament House.

The PNDC fatuous apologists savagely murdered the three eminent High Court Judges and the Army Officer because their judgement did not go in their favour.

The Special Investigation Board (SIB) thus concluded that the abduction and murder was a diabolical plot orchestrated by, and with the connivance of the members of the Provisional National Defence Council, who later metamorphosed and formed the National Democratic Congress(NDC) in 1992.

The ace journalist, Malik Kweku Baako once recounted somewhat morosely: “Under his [Rawlings’] watch, if you don’t know let me tell you today, over 240 Ghanaians disappeared into thin air. One of them is B.B. Bismark. As we sit here, the family doesn’t know where the man disappeared to, and he wasn’t the only person – 247 Ghanaians got lost, they have families,” Mr Baako said on Kokrokoo on Accra-based Peace FM on Wednesday, 17 October 2018.

Although the PNDC administration back then paraded some seasoned politicians, the vast majority of the military personnel who headed important Ministries were novices in the political scene.

Rawlings’s administration mulishly adopted a seemingly disastrous Economic Recovery Programme (ERP), which was introduced under the auspices of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The vast majority of tangible national assets, including the state owned enterprises were allegedly sold to friends and families for pittance.

The unfavourable Economic Recovery Programme culminated in a catalogue of hardships. And, on top of the harsh programmes and policies which threatened the economic fundamentals, the population had to clutch itself for food shortages, a situation which the world press somehow ignored in favour of the concomitant Ethiopian famine that resulted in millions of deaths.

As food shortages escalated in Ghana, some traders started creating artificial shortages of goods by hoarding them so as to charge exorbitant prices at a later time.

Indeed, their desperate attempts to initiate the Programme of Action to Mitigate the Social Costs of Adjustment (PAMSCAD) did nothing to improve the unfortunate situation as untold hardships permeated many households.

Starvation, so to speak, visited the vast majority of Ghanaians, and hence developing revoltingly ugly collar bones which the humorous Ghanaians renamed as “Rawlings Chain”. That was indeed the pernicious extent of the hunger.

After imposing himself and despotically ruling the country for over 11 years, J. J. Rawlings retired from the military, formed the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and bizarrely metamorphosed into civilian president in 1993.

It is, however, worth stressing that Ex-President Rawlings 96 months democratic rule came to an end in January 2001.

Despite being in power for nineteen years, President J. J. Rawlings’s could not initiate any meaningful policies and programmes to improve on the socio-economic standards of living, but only managed to destabilise Ghana’s macroeconomic indicators.

President Kufuor had a tough time running the country when he took over the presidency on 7^th January 2001, as there was not much funds left in the national purse to plan anything meaningful.

Ghana was then declared as Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC). The newly elected President Kufuor had a tough decision to make, by either embracing or rejecting the HIPC status.

The forward thinking President Kufuor chose to ingest an insipid pill with a view to getting over the malaise. He thus pragmatically embraced the HIPC status in 2001.

On reflection, though, the benefits of the HIPC were unprecedented during former President Kufuor’s administration, from (2001-2008).

In the grand scheme of things, macroeconomic indicators begun to stabilize and Ghana’s debt stock was significantly reduced by about $4 billion within that period (BOG).

Besides, as a result of the HIPC initiative and prudent borrowing, Ghana’s external debt stock actually declined from $6.1 billion in 2000 to$3.8 billion by 2008 (BOG). It was an unprecedented achievement, so to speak.

The average GDP growth of the NDC from 1993-2000 was 3.8% while that of the NPP from 2001-2008 was5.2% with economic growth reaching 6.3% in 2007 and 9.1 in 2009 (GSS/BOG).

President Kufuor worked strenuously for eight solid years, laid a favourable economic foundation and retired honourably.

He then passed on the baton to the late President Mills on 7^th January 2009, following his2008 election victory.

Regrettably though, things started to fall apart. It went from bad to worse following President Mills sudden and mysterious death. The conspiratorial plotters then had a field day leading to the 2012 general elections.

President Mahama and his NDC apparatchiks went berserk in their desperation to cling on to power. Thus they broke all conventions. Many government departments spent over and above their allocated budgets.

President Mahama, so to speak, performed abysmally. He did not do enough to improve on the socio-economic standards of living.

Former President Kufuor quadrupled Ghana’s GDP to a staggering GH28 billion in 2008. And the late Mills inherited oil in commercial quantities and managed to increase the GDP to GH47 billion in 2011.

Suffice it to stress that President Mahama disappointingly reversed the GDP to an incredible GH37 billion as of December 2016.

Since Ghana regained the independence from the British on 6^th March 1957, the NDC tradition (PNDC and NDC) had governed the country more than any other government one can think of. In fact, that tradition had governed Ghana for approximately 29 years out of Ghana’s 69 years.

If we revisit memory lane, the CPP tradition (CPP and PNP) governed the country for approximately 12 years.

Disappointingly, the last ‘Nkrumaists’ government formed by the PNP, and led by Dr Hilla Limann, was deposed by the founders of the NDC which was spearheaded by Ex-President J. J. Rawlings on 31^st December 1981.

The military regimes of the NLC, SMC 1 and 2 ruled Ghana for approximately 10 years before the founders of the NDC revoltingly usurped power on 4^th June 1979.

The UP tradition (PP and NPP) total share of the day-to-day management of the country is about 18 years to date.

In my humble opinion, in terms of useful infrastructural projects which put the country at a substantial and auspicious position, Dr Nkrumah’s CPP government did exceedingly better than any of the administrations that followed.

Even though Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia’s government lasted for less than three years, he did his utmost best in terms of meaningful development.

The achievements of Busia's government include amongst other things, the building of roads, housing, provision of healthcare facilities and water.

Besides, Dr Busia was the first Ghanaian leader to create a ministry responsible for rural development, a decision which was in consonance with his consuming desire to improving the socio-economic living standards of the rural dwellers (Daily Guide, 11/07/2013).

General I. K. Acheampong (The Head of State from 1972-78) tried his utmost best and initiated pragmatic policies such as operation feed yourself and affordable housing units.

It is against such backdrop that some of us cannot get our heads around how and why some people would choose to bypass the worst culprit, the NDC on Ghana’s underdevelopment.

The fact however remains that the founders of the National Democratic Congress manipulated Ghanaians. They vowed to lustrate the country of the so-called rampant sleazes, corruption and social injustices.

And, what happened after allegedly purging the country of the perceived injustices through the so-called “house cleaning exercise?”

It is important to note that Rawlings and his coup making geezers bamboozled onto the scene under the pretext of redeeming Ghanaians from the so-called economic mismanagement and wanton corruption, and yet couldn’t even get rid of the rampant sleazes and corruption in their NDC administrations, let alone the entire nation.

I have stressed severally that some of us witnessed the squeamishly ugly events which took place over a period of three decades (1970-1990s), and therefore cannot be misinformed by the unrepentant coup enthusiasts.

My dear reader, it is with the deepest regret to venture to state that innocent citizens lost their inherent dignity and human rights in the days of the founders of the NDC’s hopeless coup d’états.

When the coup enthusiasts (the founders of NDC) burst onto the scene, they went haywire and barbarically tortured and murdered people with minimal offences.

I hate to admit though, but the fact remains that there is nothing wrong for a group of people to come together and identify themselves as coup enthusiasts, or the ideologues of transparency, probity and accountability.

However, it is hypocritical and somewhat deceitful if a group of people who claim to be the exponents of such ethos turn around and commit the same crimes they inexorably preach against.

It has been documented that when the coup enthusiasts burst onto the scene, they went berserk and tempestuously tortured and murdered people with more than two vehicles.

But as I write, the same coup enthusiasts are hypocritically in possession of not less than two vehicles per household. How deceitful?

My dear reader, you may take my word for it, the vast majority of house owners were punished severely for having more than one toilet facility in their households.

But, the last time I checked, the vast majority of the so-called revolutionaries have uncountable toilet facilities in their luxurious mansions. How pathetic?

Besides, the founders of the NDC disgustingly exhibited their communist ideals by going into war with business men and women in the country.

The founders of NDC, regrettably, tortured and murdered innocent business men and women, many of whom were bizarrely accused of legally borrowing meagre sums of money from banks to support their businesses.

Strangely, albeit veracious, the so-called revolutionaries who repugnantly collapsed innocent peoples businesses now own business outlets all over the place. How ironic?

Some innocent business men and women, so to speak, were abhorrently humiliated and their businesses were either seized or destroyed by the despotic NDC founders.

Worst of all, billions of cedis (in 50 cedi denominations) were capriciously seized from ordinary Ghanaians, albeit without a trace. How bizarre?

The NDC founders, ironically, replaced our educational system with that of a communist model, while deceitfully turning around and sending their children abroad to study in what they saw as superior educational system.

In their wolfish attempts to get rid of alleged sleazes and corruption, many Ghanaians were unjustifiably tortured or murdered mercilessly for apparent infinitesimal offences.

What incensed some of us so much is that, despite their much touted mantra of transparency, probity and accountability, we have been witnessing so much scheming guiles, sleazes and corruptions in the successive NDC administrations. Who are they trying to deceive?

The successive NDC government officials have been committing the same crimes (bribery and corruption) their party founders killed many innocent people.

It is, therefore, quite disheartening to point out that the founders of the NDC accused and exterminated people with unfounded allegations of sleazes and corruption, including eight army officers.

But, if we honestly juxtapose the alleged corrupt practices of the murdered army officers in the 1979 coup d’état with the sleazes and corruption which have been taking place in the NDC administrations, we cannot help but to conclude that the Generals were “shot for less”.

Take for instance, the sleazes and corruption in the erstwhile NDC administration, so to speak, were so widespread to an extent that, the founder of the NDC, the late Rawlings, once shrieked and grouched openly: “I want to remind people that we could not have possibly forgotten that Generals were executed. The greed, corruption and injustice of today is a thousand times more than what these Generals were executed for, and if we are unable to restore a firm measure of integrity into our dealings, then the blood of many would have been shed in vain” (Rawlings 2017).

As I mentioned elsewhere, there is absolutely nothing wrong for any individual to tag himself/herself as a proponent of transparency, probity and accountability. But, it is somewhat sanctimonious when a group of people who claim to be the exponents of such ethos would then turn around and dip their hands into the national purse as if there is no tomorrow.

After all, aren’t the NDC apparatchiks claiming to be preachers of transparency, probity and accountability?

So why are they refusing to practice what they have been relentlessly preaching to us all these years?

Are they wolves in sheep’s clothing?
Clearly, the coup enthusiasts much trumpeting ethos of probity, transparency and accountability is a charade. It is rather an illustrative case of preaching virtue and practising vice.

As a matter of fact, Ghana’s coup days under the jailbreaking founders of the NDC could be likened to: “in the China of “the Great Helmsman,” Kim Il Sung’s Korea, Vietnam under “Uncle Ho” , Cuba under Castro, Ethiopia under Mengistu, Angola under Neto, and Afghanistan under Najibullah”.

May God bless our homeland Ghana!
K. Badu, UK.
k.badu2011@gmail.com

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